operation sheet berhanu tadesse

Trident Computer ICT Software Engineering and Business TVET Institution Tuesday November 21, 2017 By Operation Sheet

Ethiopian TVET-System

BUSINESS AND FINANCE

CLERICAL Works Support

Level II

OPERATION SHEET Unit of Competence: Apply Problem Solving

Techniques to Routine Malfunction of Computer

Module Title: CLEAR PRACTICAL PROCEDURES OF

SOLVING THE PROBLEM OF COMPUTER


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Unit of Competence: .. Apply Problem Solving Techniques to Routine

Malfunction of Computer ..................................................................... i

Apply problem solving techniques to routine malfunctions

competence 1

Replacing a Power Supply ................................................................... 1

Replacing a Video Card ....................................................................... 7

Replacing a CPU .................................................................................. 9

1.1.3.2 Replacing RAM ..................................................................... 12

1.1.3.3. Replacing a motherboard(Removal)........................ 14

1.1.3.4 Replacing a mother board ...................................................... 18

Replacing a Hard Drive ..................................................................... 22

1.1.4.2 Laptop Data Recovery - Recovering Laptop Hard Drive Files

with A USB Shell .............................................................................. 26

1 Replacing a Sound Card ................................................................. 30

Steps to install the Recovery Console on your hard drive ............... 34

1.2.2.2 How to start the Recovery Console ....................................... 37

1.2.2.3 Remove the prompting of a password ................................... 38

1.2.2.4 How to use the Recovery Console......................................... 39

1.2.2.5 How to use the Recovery Console command prompt ........... 40

Deleting the Recovery Console ......................................................... 41

Extracting Files from the Operating System CD ......................... 42

Using the Copy Command in Recovery Console .......................... 42

Using the Expand Command in Recovery Console...................... 43

Solving Resource Conflicts with Device Manager ........................... 46


Using Device Manager to Determine Other System Problems ......... 47

Using Windows Update ..................................................................... 48

1.2.9.2 Ordering and Downloading Service Packs ............................ 48

How to Defragment Your Disk Drive Volumes in Windows XP ..... 48

Method 1: Use the Properties of Your Local Disk ............................ 49

Method 2: Use Computer Management MMC .................................. 49

Method 3: Use Disk Defragmenter MMC. ........................................ 49


1

Trident Computer ICT Software Engineering and Business TVET Institution Tuesday November 21, 2017 By Berhanu Tadesse Taye Page 1

Apply problem solving techniques to routine malfunctions

competence

Introduction

This Operation Sheet consist of a practical lessens maintenance of personal computer. The

instruction trainees should require acquiring skill, knowledge and attitude step by step

maintaining personal computer procedures. Apply problem solving techniques to routine

malfunction of computer by trainees’ appropriate on clear practical procedures of solving the

problem of computer.

Replacing a Power Supply

For people who have never worked on a PC

before, the power supply is one of the toughest

components to replace simply because of the

large number of connections. The PC power

supply or PSU I replaced on this page took

about 15 minutes, including taking all of the

pictures. The first step to replacing a power

supply or any other component in a PC is to

unplug the power cable from the back of the

power supply. The socket for the power cord is

above the screwdriver in the picture. The next

step is to remove the cover from the case,

which varies like crazy from brand to brand. On

a standard midtower case like this one, you only

need to remove a side cover, the one on the

opposite side of the power supply fan grille

than the cord socket and switch. The cover is

already removed in this pictures (two screws

and it slides right out). Finally, we get to

removing the screws that hold the ATX power

supply in place.


2


After removing the four mounting screws from

the old PC power supply, I moved it out of the

way on top of the drive cage. I'm leaving it

connected to demonstrate the best method for

beginners to replace a power supply. By leaving

the old power supply connected, installing the

new power supply, and then replacing the leads

one at a time, it's nearly impossible to mess up.

It's also a good way to replace the distributor

cap on an old car if you don't know the firing

order. The only thing you have to watch out for

is that the old power supply doesn't fall into the

case while you're working and damage the

motherboard or CPU. Note that this Antec

replacement power supply has an intake fan on

the bottom, which puts it right next to the CPU

heat sink in the standard ATX design.

As soon as the Antec power supply is in place,

install the four screws to secure it. The main

reason for doing it at this point is you never

want to procrastinate securing PC components

you install when you're working on a PC or you

may forget that they are hanging loose. Then

you'll stand up the case and the power supply

(or whatever) will drop out of place and bash

the fan on the heatsink, or worse. In any case

(double meaning) the four screws securing the

PC power supply are just to the outside of the

cut-out in the back of the case that the fan,

switch and power cord socket protrude through.

Screws that are further out in the painted areas

are case screws.


3


Now we can begin actually replacing the old

power supply connectors with connectors from

the new power supply. The most important

power connection(s) in any PC are the

motherboard connections. The simplest version,

as with this Athlon 1000 system, is the standard

ATX connector, a single 20 pin (10x2)

connector. To remove it, push in at the top of

the latch with your thumb and pull upwards on

the connector, shouldn't take any real force. If

your PC is a newer Pentium 4 or Athlon 64

system, you'll have more than one connector

running from the power supply to the

motherboard. Both of the newer CPUs usually

require an additional 12V header, a 4 pin

connector arranged as a square 2x2. High end

motherboards like the ASUS with PCI Express

can also use the 4x1 drive connectors to supply

additional power to video cards by way of the

motherboard.

The new connector pushes down into place

until the latch snaps over the nub. It's a keyed

connector, you can't install it backwards, the

connectors won't mate. Newer Pentium 4

motherboards, like the one we used for the

Socket 775 Pentium 4 in the 4th edition of

Build Your Own PC, may have a 24 pin eATX

connector instead of the standard 20 pin

connector. However, they are usually designed

so you can still use a standard ATX power

supply with a 20 pin connector and just leave 4

of the pins unmated, and the socket should still

be keyed so the connector can only go in on the

right side. However, the presence of a 24 pin

connector is telling you that the motherboard

has a high power requirement, and you'll

probably have the option to attach another 4x1

drive connector to supplement power. Also,

make sure you take advantage of any power

connectors direct to video cards, which reduces

the motherboard load.


4


CD, DVD, and standard IDE hard drives all use

the 4x1 power supply connectors, of which the

standard power supply will have at least four.

Higher end power supplies may have six or

eight, and the cables will be longer to allow for

use in full tower cases. The connectors and the

sockets are both keyed so you can't mate them

backwards. However, it can take a bit of force

to remove or insert a 4x1 power supply

connector, so you want to make sure you are

pulling or pushing straight in or out, which the

drive designers will make the strong dimension.

If you start pulling at an angle on a drive with

an exposed circuit card, you could actually

damage the drive. Here we're pulling the old

(white) connector out of a CD drive.

You can see the wire key on the black

replacement power supply connector that we're

inserting to the CD drive. The 4X1 connector

doesn't need to be pushed in with a hydraulic

jack. If it stops moving before it looks like it's

fully seated against the shoulder, that may be as

far as it's going to go. If it doesn't pull out

easily, it's probably OK as is. You can pick up

an inexpensive Thermaltake 430 Watt for $40

or a 500 Watt Antec for less than $70. I'd stay

away from the $20 power supplies that claim to

be putting out 400 watts or more, but you don't

need to upgrade to a 600W or 700W monster

unless you're running dual video cards that are

sucking down over 100 Watts each


5


The trickiest of the drive connections is usually

the floppy drive, which uses the small format

connector. The connectors are designed with a

latching nub which frequently doesn't have

anything to engage with, so they can often be

pulled straight back by the wires using minimal

force. If the connector doesn't want to budge at

all, lifting it a little from the facing tab below

the four connection pins may release the nub.

You can just see it on the bottom of the white

connector to the right, protruding a little

between the guide edges on the power

connector. Below you can see the exposed 4-

pin connector and it's open receptacle, and to

the lower right, we are jollying the new

connector into place, holding it by the wires

alone. It would be nice to be able to handle it by

the plastic connectors, but in an assembled

system, there's's often no room for your fingers

when connecting the new power supply lead to

the floppy.


6


To the right is yet another small format

connection, or one more than you'll see in the

average system,. In this case, it's a tape drive,

and tapes drives often use the smaller format

power connectors.

You've seen enough drive connection to get the

point, so I'm showing this hard drive power

connection just to point out a few things. You

can clearly thee the keyed edge on the 4x1

connector in this picture, cut at a 45 degree

angle to the otherwise rectangular drive

connector. You can also see where the keyed

section ends, which is the maximum depth the

connector could be seated before the shoulder

would hit the socket.

Our Antec power supply featured far more (and

longer) leads than we use in this case, so it

makes sense to tie them off with a wire tie to

keep them from flopping all over the place,

getting into the heatsink fan, etc. I also wanted

to show the SATA drive connectors this

replacement power supply features. The thin

black connector right above my fingers in the

picture is an SATA hard drive connector.

Finally below, a picture of the installed Antec

replacement power supply. Replacing the

power supply required removing 6 screws in

all, two to release the side of the case and four

to remove the old power supply. We secured

the new power supply with four screws as soon

as we put it back in, which means there should


7


be two screws rolling around on the bed

somewhere to secure the case lid.

Replacing a Video Card

Video cards are pretty reliable, though some of

the newer ones run so hot that they have their

own cooling systems, and if the fan fails, the

video processor can't be too far behind. Almost

all systems you crack open these days will

feature an AGP video card, only the oldest

system have PCI video and only the very

newest feature PCI Express. The first step to

installing a video card is opening up the case,

which varies with non-standard systems, but for

a normal mid-tower, it means two screws at the

most. You want to remove the side that's above

the motherboard, which you can easily

determine by looking at the back of the case.

The I/O core at the bottom with the ports is

attached to the motherboard. As soon as the lid

is off, we remove the video card hold-down

screw.


8


The truth is that there are few PC jobs easier

than installing the video card. Most AGP slots

lack the latch that the cards were designed to

accept on the back edge. That latching point is

clearly visible on the old ATI video card we're

replacing, you can see the "L" shape under the

four video memory chips on the right side of

the card. If the motherboard had supported a

lock, it would have closed over the "L." In fact,

the primary failure mode for AGP video cards

is when they pop partially out of the slot on

their own (or because the monitor cable pulls

them up), so before you assume any video card

is dead, you should reseat it in the slot and give

it another try.

Our replacement 3D AGP video card is shown

here over the brown AGP slot. Yes, they are

always brown, or at least they're supposed to

be. You can see the key slot in the card edge

that with a few orphan exceptions, will prevent

you from installing the wrong voltage video

card in the slot. Only the oldest 1X and 2X

AGP video slots had any compatibility issues.

The 4X cards were probably the most common,

they are now being replaced by 8X AGP, but

PCI Express will take over soon, so the

majority of PCs in use will never feature the 8X

AGP cards. You usually have to replace an

AGP video card with the same speed since the

existing card will be the fastest the motherboard

could use. Handle the video card by the corners

and don't touch the gold contact fingers because

the oil from your skin can degrade the electrical

signals.


9


Once you have the video card positioned

properly over the AGP slot, seat it evenly by

pressing down on the top edge at both the front

and back of the card (left). Once it's seated,

install the retaining screw on the back rail

(below), then inspect the card to make sure it's

still fully seated in the slot. On poorly designed

motherboards or cases, installing the screw can

cause the video card to pivot on the back of the

slot and lose contact with the front of the slot.

That pretty much covers how to replace an

AGP video card, unless you count installing the

software drivers as a step. Just use the CD that

comes with the video card and hopefully there'll

be a wizard:-)

Replacing a CPU

spite the high clock speeds and high heat

dissipation of modern CPU, out-and-out CPU

failure is a fairly rare ocurrence. Replacing a

CPU isn't particularly challenging if you've

done it before, but it can be a little intimidating

for the first timer. To avoid endless repetition

opening the case, I'm replacing the CPU in the

same system I used to demonstrate replacing a

power supply and a sound card. It's a 1000

MHz (1 GHz) AMD Athlon in Socket A, a


10


technology that is still be used for some lower

cost PCs. Note that upgrading a laptop CPU is

rarely possible or cost efficient.

The first step to replace a CPU is to remove the

heatsink. All modern CPU's require an active

heatsink, a chunk of finned heat-conductive

metal with a cooling an mounted on top. The

leading cause of CPU failure is probably fan

failure, since the CPU can overheat and sustain

damage if there's not enough cooling air

flowing over the fins. The only rule of thumb

for removing heatsinks is to study the latching

mechanism then use your thumb to release it.

A standard Socket A heatsink is latched on both

sides, but as soon as you release the main

spring force by doing the easy side, the other

side will fall off as you lift the heatsink away

from the CPU. You can see the dried out (not so

good) thermal compound on our old Athlon as

we lift away the heatsink. You can just see the

same dried out crud on the bottom of the

heatsink at this angle.

All modern CPUs since the inception of Socket

7 back in the early 90's have used ZIF (Zero

Insertion Force) sockets, where the CPU legs

are locked in place by moving a locking lever.

To remove the Athlon CPU, we first have to

release the locking lever and lift it up to the

vertical position. The Athlon CPU is then lifted

straight out of the socket (below). Also below,

to the right, we show the keying on two corners

of the socket and the CPU that prevents you

from installing it improperly.

http://www.fonerbooks.com/laptop19.htm


11


The new Athlon CPU we are installing here

isn't a new CPU at all, it's a "pull", a CPU that's

been removed from a system. When you shop

for a replacement CPU to install on an older

motherboard, you'll see that the prices are super

low and most are identified as "pulls. The

Athlon is installed in the socket and locked into

place with the locking lever, which is pulled a

little away from the side of the socket to get

past the locking nub.

Now comes the critical step. All modern CPUs

require some sort of thermal material be added

to the die to improve the thermal interface with

the heatsink. The purpose of a thermal

compound, like this Arctic Silver Ceramique, is

to fill in the microscopic voids in both the CPU

die and the metal bottom of the heatsink. You

down't want to drown the CPU in thermal

compound, just use enough (many

manufacturers define the amount as a large

grain of rice or a small pea) so when the

heatsink presses down on it it will spread it over

the die.


12


That's it, time to reinstall the heatsink by first

latching the far side of the retaining spring over

the center nub on the opposite side of the

socket. You can see it latched on here between

the capacitors, which makes this the "poor

access" side and the reason we install the CPU

heatsink retainer on this side first.

Next we do the hard side, which we've mad a

lot easier by pulling the power supply first:-)

With the active heatsink in place, the final step

is reconnecting the power to the heatsink fan

(below) to the CPU fan point on the

motherboard. It's critical you connect it to the

proper point which the BIOS manages for low

power and sleep mod

1.1.3.2 Replacing RAM

There are two good reasons for installing RAM

in your system, either you want more total

RAM installed, or your current module has

failed. It's a simple job, providing you purchase

a compatible memory module, almost all of

which is in DIMM (Dual Inline Memory

Module) form these days. The first task if to

remove your old RAM and check the labeling,

which is the surest way of making sure the

replacement RAM will work. Use both thumbs

or two fingers to simultaneously depress the

while locking levers on the memory slot, and do

it slowly so you don't pop the DIMM up into

the air. This particular DIMM was PC-133 non-

ECC, but most systems currently in use feature


13


DDR (Double Data Rate) RAM at different

speeds.

I'm holding the replacement memory module up

over the slot to align the notches with with slots

before installing the RAM. The two notches not

only orient the module in the proper direction,

they serve as keys to prevent you from

installing the wrong type of RAM in the

motherboard. The notches on DDR-2 and DDR

modules are located differently, and the notches

also prevent the installation of older RAM

modules that require a higher voltage in the

slot. You should always handle DIMMs by the

edges, and never touch the gold contacts,

because the oil from your fingers can degrade

the connection. You can see just below the

module to the left that the white locking ears of

all three slots are wide open.

Now we actually arrive at how to install RAM

on the motherboard. We've already aligned the

notches in the DIMM with the slot, and we seat

the memory module by pressing down firmly

with our thumbs on both ends of the module

(right). The while locking ears will rise into

place of their own accord if the RAM is

installed properly. I took a final shot below just

to show the replacement DIMM properly

installed, and you can see the white locks on

have risen into place on the installed RAM

module. There's room on this motherboard to

install up to three DIMMs, but mixing and

matching brands and speeds has never been

good practice, which is why I always try to

replace all the RAM in a system when I

upgrade the capacity.


14


1.1.3.3. Replacing a motherboard(Removal)

The first step to replacing a motherboard in a

desktop computer is to remove the old

motherboard. That may sound trivial, but it's

literally half of the job, and I'm splitting

removal and installation onto two pages so it

doesn't get too big. In order to remove the

motherboard, you not only have to disconnect

all connections between the motherboard and

components in the case, you should also

remove any cables that are simply in the way.

Remember to touch the metal edge of the case

to ground yourself from time to time. Some

techs like to leave the power supply plugged in

for a ground, but that's pretty crazy with ATX

technology, since if the switch on the back of

the supply goes on, the power supply will be

live. I unplug the power supply and avoid

dancing on the rug to generate static electricity.

We start by removing the 1x4 power connector

from the hard drives.


15


Next we remove the data cable from the hard

drives. In a larger case, I might have left the

data cables installed on the drive end, but

there's very little clearance between the

motherboard and the drive cages, and you don't

want to start wrestling the old motherboard out

because you didn't prepare properly. It's just

like working on a car, if you don't get enough

stuff out of the way to have room to get a

wrench in and see what you're doing, you're just

wasting time in the long run. Keep in mind that

we're replacing the motherboard, not just taking

the old one out, and you don't want to bash the

new motherboard around as you're installing it.

Now it's time to remove the PCI adapters and

the video card. All of the adapters that mount in

motherboard slots are secured to the back rail of

the case with single screw each, though the

screws are often missing in systems that have

been worked on. You may as well take all the

screws out at the same time and put them aside

in a glass or any other small container to keep

them from getting too lost.

You should always handle adapters by the the

edges and by the metal bracket when removing

them from the motherboard. Again, you can't

race through this part like you're just waiting to

get to the main course, because you're going to

need to put all these adapters back in after you

replace the motherboard, unless the new

motherboard has those features integrated in the

I/O core. You should especially avoid touching

the gold contacts on the card edge that pulls out

of the motherboard slots, because the oil from

your fingers is an electrical insulator.


16


Standard ATX motherboards feature a single

10x2, 20 pin connector for the power supply.

The connection features a sort of a simple latch

which is released from the nub on the

motherboard connector by depressing the top of

the latch (just below my thumb). You can also

see the nub on the motherboard connector, on

the side near the motherboard edge. It can take

a bit of force to pull the connection out of the

motherboard even once it's release, since there

are 20 tight connection, so be prepared to use

your off hand to hold the motherboard down if

the edge lifts as you remove the connector.

Now we get to removing the data cables from

the old motherboard. If we had more room in

the case, I would have left them attached to the

drives on the other end. If you have trouble

remembering where everything goes when you

go to install the new motherboard, I'd

recommend the book I write for McGraw-Hill,

"Build Your Own PC," which uses extensive

photographic illustrations to detail the complete

assembly of three state-of-the-art PCs. Note that

I'm using both hands to pull out the ribbon

cable, holding it as near to the connector as

possible. High quality ribbon cables often

include a pull loop or tab so you can remove

them without stressing the cable.

The motherboard is actually mounted in the

case with a series of screws through the

motherboard, seven in this case, all of which

must be removed. About the worst thing that

can happen when you're replacing a

motherboard is that one of the screws will turn

and turn without releasing. Normally, this is

due to the screw having been over-tightened in

a brass standoff, which comes unscrewed from

the motherboard pan and remains attached to

the screw. If you think this is happening,

proceed to removing the rest of the screws first

so you won't place undo strain on the

motherboard by flexing it up. If the standoff

thread in the motherboard pan is stripped, you


17


can take off the other side of the case and grab

it with vise grips from the back.

The final set of connections we have to deal

with are the front panel leads that attach to the

motherboard. This includes the LEDs for hard

drive activity and power status, the case

speaker, and most importantly, the power

switch. ATX systems use a logic switch to tell

the motherboard, which is always receiving a

trickle of power from the ATX power supply, to

power full on. These are all small format

connectors that easily pull off, and frankly, the

power switch is the only one you really need to

reconnect when you replace the motherboard,

the other's are bells and whistles.

Once all the connections to the motherboard are

removed and the screws are all out, you can lift

the motherboard a little and pull it away from

the back of the case, where the connectors of

the I/O core protrude through the shield (left).

Once you disengage the I/O core, you can lift

the motherboard right out of the case. I usually

hold onto a PCI slot and the CPU heatsink,

there's just no room to get your fingers on the

edges of the motherboard in most cases

(below). That pretty much covers the removal

phase of replacing a motherboard,


18


1.1.3.4 Replacing a mother board

The process of replacing the motherboard

began with removing the old motherboard. Now

it's time to compare the old motherboard with

the replacement motherboard to see how the

physically match. I've pulled the I/O core shield

out of the back of the case, and I've placed it on

the I/O core of the old motherboard. You can

see (if the flash isn't blinding you:-) that the old

I/O core didn't have a game port or integrated

sound, which the new motherboard supports.

New motherboards should always ship with

their own I/O shield, but with a second-hand

replacement like we're using here, you have to

make due. Fortunately, the old I/O shield has

punch-outs in the proper locations.

You'll need to exercise a bit of common sense

when removing sharp pieces of tin from a

flimsy shield. While pliers may seem like a

good idea, you want to control the amount of

force carefully, it doesn't take much to stretch

the shield so that it will never fit on the

motherboard I/O core properly. I worked the

game port cover out with my fingers, and now

I'm using a screwdriver to pop out the tabs over

the sound jacks for mic, line and speakers.

Once the metal tab is standing up, one or two

bends is enough to break it off.

http://www.fonerbooks.com/r_mother.htm


19


After we double check that the I/O shield now

fits over the new I/O core, we install it in the

case. It's always a two handed job, the only

thing that secures the shield is the spring force

on the dimples around the edges, and of course,

the motherboard, once the ports protrude

through the shield. You need to get the shield

firmly fixed in place because otherwise it will

just slip when you're trying to align the

motherboard ports and making installing the

motherboard a pain.

Here I've stood the new motherboard up in the

case to compare the locations of the holes in the

motherboard with the standoffs in the case. In

this particular instance, it happens that all seven

of the installed standoffs aligned properly with

holes in the motherboard (thanks to a standard

ATX form factor) so we didn't have to do

anything. The main trick is to count the

standoffs before installing the motherboard,

count out a like number of screws, and make

sure you use all of them to secure the

motherboard.

The motherboard is installed into the case on an

angle, with the back edge and the I/O core

going first. Once the I/O core is properly

aligned with the shield, you can push the ports

through the openings and set the motherboard

down on the standoffs. Check for wires and

cables having been caught below the

motherboard before you start securing it with

screws.


20


We counted out seven screws to match the

number of standoffs in the case, and now we

are going to use every one of those screws to

secure the motherboard. If there's a screw

leftover when you're done, it means that there's

a metal standoff that didn't end up under a hole

in the motherboard, and is probably waiting for

you to plug in the power and burn up the

replacement motherboard. In other words, if

you didn't use up all the screws, take the

motherboard back out and count again. If you

counted right, you need to visually inspect the

motherboard and the standoff locations, figure

out which one isn't being used, and remove it.

I like to make the most important motherboard

connection first, and that's the power switch. It's

normally labeled "PW SW" or "Power SW" and

the motherboard will be labeled with "PW SW",

"P-ON" "PW" or something similarly cryptic.

You won't hurt anything if you attach the power

switch to the wrong connector in the block, but

you won't get the PC to turn on either. I went

ahead and connected the rest of the front panel

leads to the motherboard, but you really don't

need to. Nobody uses reset switches or

keyboard locks anymore, most motherboards

have a built in piezoelectric speaker, and who

cares about LED's.

Now it's time to load the adapters back in, in no

particular order. I did the PCI adapters first,

starting with the modem, and I even reinstalled

the sound card even though the replacement

motherboard had integrated sound. Last was the

AGP adapter, which fortunately was compatible

with the new motherboard. If you were were

doing a serious motherboard upgrade, with PCI

Express or AGP 8X video, you'd need a new

video card as well.


21


As soon as all the adapter are in place, secure

them all with a single hold down screw on the

back rail. It pays to do them all at once since

the exact dimensions of each card and

motherboard vary a little, which means if you

installed the adapters and secured them one at a

time, you might have to loosen the screws up

later to get another adapter to seat in the

motherboard. Just make sure you inspect the

way the adapters are seated in the motherboard

when you're done, that inserting the screw

didn't force the back of the adapter down so far

that the front popped out, especially with AGP

cards.

Standard ATX motherboards all use the 20 pin

ATX power connector, but newer motherboards

for Pentium 4 and Athlon 64 will always

require at least one more connection, often a

2x2 12V header, sometimes an addition 1x4

lead, as the type used for the drives. I actually

cover building PC's with Socket 775 for

Pentium 4 (including 46 bit and forthcoming

dual core) plus Athlon 64 in Socket 939 (also

supports dual core athlon) in the 4th edition of

"Build Your Own PC," which I write for

McGraw-Hill.

All that's left is reconnecting all the drive

cables, power and data, that we undid when

removing the old motherboard (left). The recent

ATA ports are color coded for use with 80 wire

cables and auto selecting master/slave on ATA

drives. If you have serial ATA (SATA) drives,

it's even easier, just one slim data cable per

drive. Plenty more details for the individual

component is available in the other replacing

parts pages on this site if you get a little lost.

Below we finish the job off with a cable tie, just

to neaten up the case a little and encourage

better air circulation. That's what I've got on

how to install a motherboard.


22


Replacing a Hard Drive

If you're dealing with a laptop, try recovering

the hard drive data with a USB enclosure before

discarding. I was just visiting my cousin Henry

when the hard drive in his wife's old Penium

MMX failed. It wasn't just getting noisy, a

surface scan with ScanDisk showed that it was

littered with bad sectors, most of which were

right at the start of the disk where Windows

wants to sit. In any case, it needed replacing, so

the first job for Henry was to back up all the

data that could still be accessed on floppy, then

to remove the old hard drive. The case was a

full cover type, four screws secured it from the

back (of which two were missing), after which

it slides off backwards. The old hard drive is

exposed.

Hard Drive in Cage




23


Removing Hard Drive Mounting Screws

Hard drives in PCs are either mounted in fixed

cages (as above), in removable drive cages, or

on rails. The standard method in older clones

was fixed cages, these being the cheapest to

build and the hardest to work with. The

problem is that while the two screws on the

front side are exposed and easily removed, as

shown to the left, the two screws on the back

side or hidden within the case infrastructure and

in some instances, even blocked by the

motherboard! The view in this case was so

obscured there was no point trying to

photograph it, but keep in mind that you have to

remove four screws to replace your hard drive.

Once the screws are all removed, the hard drive

is sitting in the bottom of the cage. This won't

always be the situation, some really cheap

cages are open at the bottom, so the instant the

last screw is removed the drive drops if you

aren't holding on. Oddly enough, this is the

most critical stage of replacing a hard drive, in

the sense that removing the drive through the

case where the ribbon cables are bunched up

and over the CPU and heatsink is most likely to

create another problem. If the cables are long

enough, you can leave them attached to the

hardrive as you slide it out, but don't try pulling

through a mess, clear a path first.

Removing Hard Drive


24


Remove IDE Cable

Once the hard drive is out, you can remove the

broad ribbon cable which carries the data and

the 4x1 power cable. The ribbon cable is

sometimes secured in place with a glob of glue

or silicon to prevent it from working out of the

drive due to vibrations. The cable is often keyed

properly to the drive, but if not, the important

thing is to get the red wire on the Pin 1 location.

The power connector is often tough to remove

just because it's a tight fit. Work it back and

forth gently along the long axis, making sure

you aren't flexing the circuit board as you do so.

The jumpers for Master/Slave are between the

two cables.

Excuse the glare from the flash, but I wanted to

point out the label on the replacement drive.

When you replace or upgrade any hard drive,

you want to make sure that the jumper settings

for Master/Slave selection on older drives are

set correctly. The correct setting, in case of a

replacing a drive, means they should be set the

same way they were on the old drive. In this

case, the CD drive is installed on its own cable

and controller, so the proper setting was

"Single" (same as Master on most drives) and

didn't need changing. These setting are

normally shown on the label on the face of the

drive, as to the right. You can pick up an

inexpensive 320 GB Western Digital or Seagate

EIDE hard drive for just over $70 or the SATA

version for even less. Just remember that we're

showing an EIDE (parallel interface) hard drive

swap on this page.

Install IDE Cable


25


Replace Hard Drive in Cage

Since Henry was able to install the IDE ribbon

cable and the power on the replacement hard

drive while it was outside the case, all that

remains is to slide it back into place and secure

it. Again, since hard drive are three dimensional

objects and fairly large relative to the size of the

computer case, you have to clear plenty of room

behind the cage to slide the drive straight in.

Any time that you replace a hard drive and have

new problems, like a CD that doesn't work or a

new noise in the case, the culprit is usually a

ribbon cable that's gotten loose on the controller

while you were installing the hard drive, or a

cable that's now hitting a fan.Install four screws

(three is actually plenty) and the physical part

of the job is over.

Install Hard Drive Mounting Screws


26


1.1.4.2 Laptop Data Recovery - Recovering Laptop Hard Drive Files with A USB Shell

he worst thing that can happen to most laptop

users, aside from the loss of the whole laptop,

is hard drive failure. The hard drive holds all

of your data, files, and all your e-mails and

contacts if you use Outlook, Eudora, or any

other non-portal based e-mail. But I'm sure

many more laptops have gone to the recycling

facility with live hard drives than dead hard

drives. If you have any files you value on

your hard drive that aren't backed up, you

should invest $10 or $15 in a USB shell and

attempt to recover the data. Hard drive data

recovery is thought to be an arcane art,

requiring expensive equipment and a high

level of technical skill, but all of that only

comes into play if the onboard electronics or

the motor have failed. In that case, the drive

platters are removed from the metal case in a

special clean room, and the data is recovered

by reading it off on a universal reader.

Most laptop owners are still very foggy as to

where their data resides and consider the whole

lower part of the laptop (everything except the

screen) to be part and parcel with the hard drive.

In reality, laptop hard drive are 2.5" wide, about

4" long and about a quarter inch thick. They

weigh a couple of ounces, and can normally be

accessed by removing a single screw from the

laptop, as shown above.You should always

unplug the laptop and remove the battery before

attempting to do any repair work. I'll admit I left

the battery in here, because I knew it had been

stone dead for some six months or more, since the

AC adapter died. After removing the single

screw, you can see the 2.5" laptop hard drive

installed in its cage. This hard drive is an IBM

Travelstar, perhaps the most common hard drive

used in laptops the past couple years. Because it's

an older laptop, there's no shock mounting for the

drive, little rubber washers that have become a

popular way to partially shield the hard drive

from the vibrations that can cause head crashes,


27


in which case you can't recovery the data with a

million dollar lab.

The series of pictures at the top of this page

are for the older parallel ATA (PATA) drives,

the newer SATA laptop hard drive is shown

at the bottom of the page. The next step is to

remove the whole cage from the laptop,

which involves pulling back on the cage to

free the drive's IDE interface from the laptop

connector. You can see to the right that the

drive cage is held from lifting by two metal

tabs, and that the screw that held the plastic

lid on the drive bay went all the way through

and secured the cage in the laptop. That's all

that held it together, one screw, and it's a

typical arrangement. It turns out that

removing the old hard drive from the cage,

once it's out, is generally a bigger job than

removing the cage from the laptop, because

there are four screws involved and they are

often overtightened and strip when you try to

remove them. But it's not necessary to take it

apart any further if all you want to to recover

your old files.

To the left, I'm holding the new USB 2.0

interface that came Sabrent hard drive enclosure.

The interface is really all you need to gain access

to the old hard drive, if it's healthy, and recover

your data. The kit comes with software from Mac

users as well as Windows based machines, but

modern operating system versions don't even

require the software. They'll just find the new

USB hardware when it's plugged in, recognize

that it's a hard drive, and allow you to recover

your files as long as the file system types were

compatible. I'm holding the interface card over

the aluminum enclosure in which you could

install the drive if you wanted to use it as a

permanent external hard drive.

http://www.fonerbooks.com/laptop10.htm#sata


28


But when I started taking the screws out of

the cage, three out of four fought me and the

fourth stripped, despite the fact I was using a

high quality screw driver. It would be easy to

bend and break the remaining tab off to

remove the cage, but why bother, when the

only point of the job is to recover some old

files? So I plugged the interface on (to the

right), then set the whole thing down on my

table with the new laptop and plugged it into

the USB 2.0 port. You can see that the little

green LED on the drive is lit and active, if

you have good eyes and a better imagination.

Immediately after plugging in the USB cable,

Windows XP picked up on the drive, and asks

what you want to do with it. Choose "View with

Explorer" and you'll gain access to all of the old

folders, drag them onto your new laptop hard

drive, and your data recover job is complete.

Well, after you burn the recovered files on a

DVD it will be complete, and you won't face the

worry again. If the LED doesn't light up, you

could be plugging the USB into an old port that

doesn't source the 500 mA required, or the

interface could be bad out of the box, or the drive

could really be dead. If you don't hear the drive

spin up, you can try picking it up gently, a few

inches over the table, and try rocking in slowly to

see if you can feel the centripetal force of the disk

spinning.


29


In the 2005/2006 time frame, laptops started

changing over from the older IDE (PATA)

hard drives to the newer SATA hard drive.

The only difference, as far as the user is

concerned, is that the SATA drives are faster

and have a different connector. The drives are

otherwise identical, and the SATA drives

often cost less in the larger capacities as they

are more common today. Since the SATA

interface only requires a few wires (serial vs.

parallel bus), ribbon cables aren't required and

a more flexible and robust connection is

possible. The picture to the right shows an

SATA drive installed in the laptop bay, and

thanks to the rubberized shock mounting

around the bay and on the cover, it simply sits

tightly in place - no screws required. I only

needed to remove one screw to take this drive

out and put it into an SATA USB enclosure,

and that was the screw on the drive bay lid.

Mounting the SATA drive on the circuit card for

the external USB enclosure involves sliding the

SATA edge connector into the circuit board

connector and putting in a couple screws to hold

it, if you're going to make the enclosure its

permanent home. But don't make the mistake of

thinking you're going to be able to boot your

laptop from an external SATA hard drive, I

haven't come across the laptop BIOS that can

handle it yet. When the laptop BIOS gives you a

"USB boot" option, it's the option to boot from a

memory stick. Sabrent makes an SATA hard

drive shell . In any case, if your laptop is a brick

and you need to recover your data, pulling out the

hard drive and putting it in an external USB case

is usually the easiest approach, providing that the

hard drive itself isn't fried.


30


1 Replacing a Sound Card

Sound cards don't have a particularly high failure rate, I believe

but they get replaced more often than any other adapter, with the

possible exception of modems. The reason is that older PCI

sound cards that came stock with systems offered pretty lousy

performance, so gamers and musicians often find they have to

replace the sound card just to work with the programs they buy.

The first step is to unplug the PC and open the case. Yes, you can

use a power strip and turn off the power switch to preserve the

ground, but I'll bet more people blow up adapters sticking them

in motherboards with a live 5V rail than with static electricity.

You only need to remove the top lid on the average midtower -

two screw, slide back a couple inches, and off. You can see the

original sound card connectors in the center of the adapter bay.


31


The original sound card is

secured in the case with a

single screw. If you've done

this before, you'll see that

there's something missing

along the top edge. This PC

was built without an analog

audio lead connecting the CD

drive to the sound card, which

means it never would have

been able to play music CDs.

This is an extremely common

issue with PC's that were built

without any quality control or

a CD was installed at a later

date by somebody who had a

lazy attack. The audio lead is

a two cent part, and it's

probably generated more "my

sound card/speakers don't

work" service calls than any

other assembly oversight, and

who knows how many sound

cards replaced for no reason.

We remove the old sound

card, and also a blank bay

cover next to it, because our

PCI 5.1 upgrade sound card

needs two slots for the SPDIF

riser.

Speaking of the SPDIF (Sony/Phillips Digital Interface), we now

connect this daughter card, or riser, to the new sound card. I like

to do this before actually installing the sound card in the case

because the connectors aren't always keyed. This connector is

keyed the top left hole on this 2x5 connector is blocked to match

the missing corner pin on the board connection block. In a bit of

literary foreshadowing, you can also see just above my forefinger

the 4x1 connector where we'll later connect the CD audio lead.

To the right of those connectors is the silk screen explaining

which is which. This information is available ONLY on the

sound card, the one page paper manual that came with it had no

info at all.


32


Here you can see the small

SPDIF daughter board held

above the basic sound

card,which I think I paid

around $20 for. It's a 5.1

sound card, five regular

channels (front left and right,

rear left and right, center) plus

a low frequency or sub-

woofer channel. When you're

upgrading a sound card, a 5.1

is pretty much the minimum

I'd consider. Newer

motherboards come with 6.1

and even 7.1 sound built into

the motherboard, so this isn't

anything you should have to

fool around with a a newer

PC. The game port is quickly

becoming obsolete, replaced

with USB game controllers,

but many replacement sound

cards, like this one, still

feature a legacy game port.

Whenever you install a sound card or other adapter in your PC,

you should be careful not to touch the contact edge (the gold

stripes) when handling the adapter, and ideally, you should only

touch them on the metal bracket or unused real estate on the card.

I seated this adapter in the PCI slot with even pressure on the

bracket and the back edge of the sound card. Immediately after

installing the sound card, secure both it and the SPDIF riser with

one screw each through the bracket on the back rail. That covers

how to install a sound card, now you have to get the internal and

external connections made right.


33


Now we attach the CD audio

lead to the sound card.

Obviously, we have to attach

the other end to the CD/DVD

drive or it won't do much

good, but I'm going to let you

take my word for it that it got

done:-) The other connector

blocks on the top of the sound

card are for modem inputs,

lets you play your phone

through the speakers or use a

system mike with a voice

modem rather than plugging a

separate mike into the modem

card. The truth is, I never

fooled around with voice on

old PC modems, but the VOIP

(Voice Over IP) capabilities

of PCs with broadband

Internet connections work

pretty good. They use the

sound card for the mic and

headset, not a modem. Below,

I just wanted to show the

optical SPDIF input. The clear

plastic tube directly to the

right, is the protector I took

off the optical connector, and

the black plug next to the

clear tube protected the

optical port on the adapter.


34


Steps to install the Recovery Console on your hard drive

1. Insert the Windows XP CD into your CD-ROM drive.

2. Click the Start button.

3. Click the Run menu option.

4. In the Open: field type X:\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons , where X is

the drive letter for your CD reader, and press the OK button. An

image of this step can be found below:


35


5. After pressing the OK button a setup window will appear similar to

the one below.

Simply press the Yes button to continue with the installation of the

Recovery Console. The setup program will then attempt to do a

Dynamic Update to make sure you have the latest files as shown

below.


36


Simply allow it to continue and then when it is finished, you will be

presented with a screen similar to the one below telling you so.

6. Press the OK button and remove the CD from your computer.

Now when you start your computer you will have an option to start the

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial117.html


37


Recovery Console.

1.2.2.2 How to start the Recovery Console

To start the Recovery Console when it is installed on your hard drive you

would do the following:

1. Reboot your computer and as Windows starts it will present you with

your startup options as shown in the figure below.

2. With the arrows keys on your keyboard select the option listed

as Microsoft Windows Recovery Console and press the enter key on

your keyboard.

3. The Recovery Console will start and ask you which Windows

installation you would like to log on to. If you have multiple

Windows installations, it will list each one, and you would enter the

number associated with the installation you would like to work on

and press enter. If you have just one Windows installation,


38


type 1 and press enter.

4. It will then prompt you for the Administrator's password. If there is

no password, simply press enter. Otherwise type in the password and

then press enter. If you do not know your password then see this.

5. If you entered the correct password you will now be presented with

a C:\Windows> prompt and you can start using the Recovery

Console.

6. Proceed to How to use the Recovery Console.

To start the Recovery Console directly from the Windows XP CD you

would do the following:

1. Insert the Windows XP cd in your computer.

2. Restart your computer so you are booting off of the CD.

3. When the Welcome to Setup screen appears, press the R button on

your keyboard to start the Recovery Console.

4. The Recovery Console will start and ask you which Windows

installation you would like to log on to. If you have multiple

Windows installations, it will list each one, and you would enter the

number associated with the installation you would like to work on

and press enter. If you have just one Windows installation,

type 1 and press enter.

5. It will then prompt you for the Administrator's password. If there is

no password, simply press enter. Otherwise type in the password and

then press enter. If you do not know your password then see this.

6. If you entered the correct password you will now be presented with

a C:\Windows> prompt and you can start using the Recovery

Console.

7. Proceed to How to use the Recovery Console.

1.2.2.3 Remove the prompting of a password

When the Recovery Console starts it will ask for your Administrator password

before continuing. In many cases when you have XP pre installed on your

computer the Recovery Console will not recognize your Administrator's

password. In these situations it is possible to edit a registry setting so that the

Recovery Console does not ask for a password. This setting works on both

Windows XP Home and Pro editions.

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial117.html

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial117.html#password

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial117.html#use

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial117.html#password

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial117.html#use


39


To change this setting do the following:

1. Click on the Start button.

2. Click on the Run option

3. Type regedit.exe in the open field and press the OK button.

4. Navigate to

the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windo

wsNT\CurrentVersion\Setup\RecoveryConsole

5. Change the value of SecurityLevel value to 1

6. Close regedit

7. Reboot your computer.

Now the Recovery Console will no longer ask for a password.

1.2.2.4 How to use the Recovery Console

You can enable and disable services, format drives, read and write data on a

local drive (including drives that are formatted to use the NTFS file system),

and perform many other administrative tasks. The Recovery Console is very

useful if you have to repair your computer by copying a file from a disk or

CD-ROM to your hard disk, or if you have to reconfigure a service that is

preventing your computer from starting correctly.

If you cannot start your Windows, you can run the Recovery Console from the

Windows XP startup disks or the Windows XP CD-ROM.

After Windows XP is installed on your computer, to start the computer and

use the Recovery Console. The Windows XP startup disks or the Windows XP

CD-ROM are required.

For more information about how to create Startup disks for Windows XP (they

are not included with Windows XP), click the following article number to

view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

310994 Obtaining Windows XP Setup boot disks

Note To start the computer from the Windows XP CD-ROM, you must

configure the basic input/output system (BIOS) of the computer to start from

your CD-ROM.

To run the Recovery Console from the Windows XP startup disks or the

Windows XP CD-ROM, follow these steps:

1. Insert the Windows XP startup disk into the floppy disk drive, or

insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into the CD drive, and then restart

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310994


40


the computer.

Click to select any options that are required to start the computer

from the CD drive if you are prompted. 2. When the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press R to start the

Recovery Console.

3. If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot computer, select the

installation that you must access from the Recovery Console.

4. When you are prompted, type the Administrator password. If the

administrator password is blank, just press ENTER.

5. At the command prompt, type the appropriate commands to diagnose

and repair your Windows XP installation.

For a list of commands that are available in Recovery Console,

type recovery console commands orhelp at the command prompt,

and then press ENTER.

For information about a specific command,

type help commandname at the command prompt, and then press

ENTER.

6. To exit the Recovery Console and restart the computer, type exit at

the command prompt, and then press ENTER.

1.2.2.5 How to use the Recovery Console command prompt

When you use the Recovery Console, you are working at a special command

prompt instead of the ordinary Windows command prompt. The Recovery

Console has its own command interpreter. To enter this command interpreter,

you are prompted by Recovery Console to type the local Administrator

password.

When the Recovery Console starts, you can press F6 to install a third-party

SCSI or RAID driver, in case that you need such a driver to access the hard

disk. This prompt works the same as it does during installation of the

operating system.

The Recovery Console takes several seconds to start. When the Recovery

Console menu appears, a numbered list of the Windows installations on the

computer appears. (Generally, only c:\Windows exists.) Press a number before

you press ENTER, even when only one entry appears. If you press ENTER

without selecting a number, the computer restarts and starts the process again.

Expand this image


41


When you see the prompt for %SystemRoot% (generally

C:\Windows), you can start to use the available commands for the

Recovery Console.

Deleting the Recovery Console

Warning: To remove the Recovery Console you need to modify the Boot.ini file. Modifying this file incorrectly can

prevent your computer from starting properly. Please only attempt this step if you feel comfortable doing this.

To remove the Recovery Console from your hard drive follow these steps:

1. Double-click on My Computer and then double-click on the drive you installed the Recovery Console

(usually the C: drive).

2. Click on the Tools menu and select Folder Options.

3. Click on the View tab.

4. Select Show hidden files and folders and uncheck Hide protected operating system files.

5. Press the OK button.


42


6. Now at the root folder delete the Cmdcons folder and the Cmldr file.

7. At the root folder, right-click the Boot.ini file, and then click Properties.

8. Click to clear the Read-only check box, and then click the OK button.

9. Click on Start, then Run and type Notepad.exe c:\boot.ini in the Open: field and press the OK button.

10. Remove the entry for the Recovery Console. It will look similar to this:

C:\cmdcons\bootsect.dat="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons

Make sure you only delete that one entry.

11. When you are done, close the notepad and save when it asks.

12. Right click again on the boot.ini file and select Properties.

13. Put a checkmark back in the Read-only checkbox and then press the OK button.

The recovery console should now be removed from your system.

Extracting Files from the Operating System CD

It is usually recommended that you use Add or Remove Programs in Control Panel to install and uninstall

components, applications, and support software from the Windows XP Professional operating system CD. If system

files are missing or damaged, you can run Windows XP Professional Setup from the operating system CD and

choose the option to repair your existing installation. In some cases, however, you might need to extract a system or

startup file directly from the operating system CD.

Warning If you install incorrect versions of system or startup files or if you install files to incorrect locations, your

system might not operate as expected or might not start. Use the method described in this section only if your

product support representative indicates that it is necessary to manually retrieve a compressed file from your

operating system CD.

The /i386 folder on your Windows XP Professional operating system CD contains system and startup files in

compressed form. If you need to replace a file in your Windows XP Professional installation, you can use the copy

or expand command in Recovery Console to extract the needed file from the operating system CD. Use the copy

command unless you are extracting a file from a .cab file, such as Driver.cab. When extracting a file from a .cab file,

use the expand command.

When you use Recovery Console to extract a compressed file from the operating system CD, you must use exact file

names for the compressed and uncompressed files. Table A-6 illustrates compressed and uncompressed file names.

Table A-6 Compressed and Uncompressed File Names

Compressed File Name Uncompressed File Name

Ntoskrnl.ex_ Ntoskrnl.exe

Hal.dl_ Hal.dll

Using the Copy Command in Recovery Console


43


If a file is not within a .cab file, you can use the copy command in Recovery Console to extract the file from the

operating system CD and place it on your local disk in a Windows XP Professional installation. When you use the

copy command to extract a file to a destination on your local disk, the file is automatically uncompressed. For more

information about running Recovery Console, including how to add it to your startup options, see Chapter 29,

“Troubleshooting the Startup Process.”

Use the copy command with the following syntax:

copy source [destination] Table A-7 describes the parameters that you can use with the copy command.

Table A-7 Parameters for the Copy Command

Parameter Description

Source Specifies the file to be copied

Destination Specifies the directory and/or file name for the new file

Source can be removable media, any directory within the System32 directory of the current Windows installation,

the root of any drive, the local installation sources, or the Cmdcons folder. (The C:\Cmdcons folder is the Recovery

Console installation folder.)

Destination can be any directory within the System32 directories of the current Windows installation, the root of any

drive, the local installation sources, or the Cmdcons folder. If you do not specify a destination, the command

defaults to the current directory. The copy command prompts you if the destination file already exists. The

destination cannot be removable media.

The copy command does not support replaceable parameters (wildcards).

Using the Expand Command in Recovery Console

To extract a file from a .cab file on the operating system CD and place it on your local disk in a Windows XP

Professional installation, start Recovery Console and use the expand command. When you use the expand

command to extract a file to a destination on your local disk, the file is automatically uncompressed. For more

information about running Recovery Console, including how to add it to your startup options, see Chapter 29,

“Troubleshooting the Startup Process.”

Use the expand command with the following syntax:

expand source [/f:filespec][destination][/y][/d] Tables A-8 describes the parameters that you can use with the expand command.

Tables A-8 Parameters for the Expand Command

Parameter Description

source Specifies the file that you want to expand. Cannot include wildcards.

destination Specifies the directory for the new file; the default is the current directory.

/y Suppresses the overwrite prompt when you expand or extract files.

/f:filespec If the source contains more than one file, this parameter is required to identify the specific file or

files that you want to expand. Can include wildcards.


44


/d Lists the files contained in the cabinet file without expanding it or extracting from it.

The destination can be any folder within the System32 folder of the current Windows installation, the root

of any drive, the local installation sources, or the Cmdcons folder.

The destination cannot be removable media.

The destination file cannot be read-only. Use the Attrib command to remove the read-only attribute.

If the destination file already exists, the expand command prompts you for confirmation to overwrite the

file unless you include the /y parameter.

1.2.3.1 Repairing a Damaged Master Boot Record If the master boot record (MBR) on your hard disk is damaged, the computer cannot read it to determine how your

drive is partitioned or the location of your operating system boot files. The most typical cause for a damaged MBR

is a boot-sector computer virus. You can use the Windows XP CD-ROM or Windows XP boot disks to start your

system and fix the problem.

1.2.3.2 Determining Whether the Problem Is the MBR or Missing Boot Files In addition to a valid MBR, a bootable hard disk also needs to have the correct Windows bootable files installed on

it. The error message displayed when a system can’t boot will help you determine which problem the drive is

having.

If the system displays a message such as “No Boot Sector on Fixed Disk” or “No Boot Device Available,” the MBR

has been corrupted. If the system displays a message such as “Non-System Disk or Disk Error” or “Invalid System

Disk,” the MBR is okay but the boot files are missing or corrupted. Special Procedures for Special Cases The

procedures discussed in the following sections are designed to help you recover from a problem with a damaged

MBR or missing

boot files if you prepared your hard disk with the standard Windows utilities: the Windows XP Setup program or

Disk Management (see Chapter 3 for details). However, if you used a program packaged with your hard disk (or

downloaded from your hard disk vendor’s website) to prepare your hard disk, you might not have a standard MBR.

Programs such as Maxtor’s MaxBlast, Western Digital’s Data Lifeguard Tools, Seagate’s Disc Wizard, Ontrack

Disk Manager, and others serve two purposes:

• They provide an easier-to-use replacement for the Windows XP Disk Management or Setup process.

• Optionally, they can also provide a software-based BIOS replacement for BIOS chips that cannot handle the entire

capacity of the drive (typically older BIOS chips found on older boards).

Using the repair procedures in the following section to fix an MBR problem on a drive prepared with a program

such as this might overwrite the special MBR created by the hard disk setup program and prevent access to the

drive.

Repairing a Missing Boot Sector with Windows XP If you use Windows XP, boot from the CD-ROM and select the Repair option displayed on the Welcome to Setup

menu to fix your installation with the Recovery Console. When prompted, enter the number of the Windows

installation you want to fix. Unless you have a dual-boot configuration, your Windows installation will be listed as

1: C:\WINDOWS.

Next, enter the Administrator password to continue; if no Administrator password was set, press Enter.

Enter the command FIXBOOT at the Recovery Console prompt that appears. This option installs new bootable files

on your hard drive. Answer Y(es) when prompted to write a new boot sector. Enter the command FIXBOOTto re-

create the master boot record. When this is complete, type EXIT and press the Enter key to restart the computer.

Remove the CD-ROM so the computer can boot from the hard drive. These commands also work with Windows

2000.


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Getting the Boot Order Right for Fast Repairs If you need to fix your computer’s hard disk or perform other repairs using the Windows XP Recovery Console, you should

change the boot order of your drives in your system BIOS so you can boot from the Windows XP CD-ROM:

• First boot device: CD-ROM

If you do not have a bootable Windows XP CD (you have a preinstalled system with a recovery CD or recovery partition),

change

the first boot device to Floppy and see the sidebar “No Windows XP CD-ROM? Boot Disks to the Rescue!” to learn how to

download

Windows XP bootable floppy disk images.

• Second boot device: First hard disk (called hard disk 0 on somesystems)

• Third boot device: Floppy

You can also add the Recovery Console to the Windows XP startup menu. We recommend this because you won’t

need to hunt for your Windows XP CD when you need to run Recovery Console.

Fixing Other Startup Problems with Windows XP If Windows XP starts but can’t finish booting properly, or if it displays errors, you’ll need to access the Windows

Advanced Options menu. To do so, reboot your PC and press the F8 key repeatedly until the menu appears (this

might take a couple tries to get the timing down). You can select different options from this menu to get your system

back to

work in a hurry. Windows XP also provides the Startup/Shutdown Troubleshooter, available in the Help and

Support Center, which can help you determine the reason for startup problems. To use this troubleshooter even if

Windows won’t start normally, boot your system in Safe Mode or Safe Mode with Networking. The following table

provides a reference to which startup option is best to use depending on your circumstances.


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Solving Resource Conflicts with Device Manager

Resource conflicts take place when two or more devices are configured to use the same IRQ (unless they support

IRQ sharing), I/O port address, memory address, or DMA channel. For example, the General tab for the properties

sheet of the malfunctioning COM 2 port (see Figure 2.17) indicates that the port doesn’t have correct IRQ or other

resources available.


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When you have a malfunctioning device such as the one in Figure 2.17, you have several options for resolving the

problem:

• Look up the Device Manager code to determine the problem and its solution (see Table 2.4).

• Click the Solution button (if any) shown on the device’s General properties tab; the button’s name and usage

depends on the problem. Table 2.4 lists the codes, their meanings, and the solution button (if any).

• Manually change resources. If the nature of the problem is a resource conflict, you can click the Resources tab and

change the settings and eliminate the conflict if possible. Some recent systems that use ACPI power management

don’t permit manual resource changes in Device Manager and also override any changes you might make in the

system BIOS setup program. On these systems, if resource conflicts take place, you might need to disable ACPI

power management before you can solve resource conflicts. Fortunately, such resources conflicts are extremely rare.

Using Device Manager to Determine Other System Problems As you saw in the above figure only devices installed in the system will be displayed in the Windows Device

Manager. This can also help you determine why you are having problems with a device. For example, if you cannot

use a device attached to a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port, and the Universal Serial Bus category isn’t listed in

Device Manager, you need to enable the USB ports in your system.


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Using Windows Update Before Windows 98 was released, keeping Windows up to date was a nightmare of downloading all types of patch

files, installing them, and trying to remember which files had been installed and in what order. Starting with

Windows 98, Microsoft provided a Windows Update feature on the Start menu. Click it to connect with Microsoft’s

Windows

Update website (http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com), which detects your Windows and Internet Explorer version,

inventories the software versions on your system, and provides a customized list of files your system needs. These

are divided into two categories:

• Express Install—High-priority critical updates

• Custom Install—Your choice of high-priority critical updates, optional software, and updated hardware drivers To

make Windows Update work effectively for you, I recommend the following:

• Configure your system for automatic updates. Microsoft provides service packs for Windows XP through its

automatic update service. See

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sp2/default.mspx for details.

• Use Windows Update to check for updates at least once a week. If you hear of a flaw in Internet Explorer, Outlook

Express, or the Media Player, check for updates immediately.

• Even update utilities need to be updated from time to time. Be sure to install updates to Windows Update when

Microsoft informs you they need to be installed.

• Download service packs and other high-priority updates and restart your computer before you install less-vital

updates. If an update must be installed by itself, Windows Update prevents you from downloading and installing

others at the same time.

• Keep in mind that Windows Update doesn’t provide updates for applications, so be sure to visit your software

vendors’ websites for updates.

1.2.9.2 Ordering and Downloading Service Packs Microsoft is trying—very hard—to make manual downloading of Windows XP Service Packs a thing of the past by

incorporating the downloading of Service Pack 2 into the automatic updates feature of Windows Update. Frankly,

we think this is a great idea in theory, but a “not ready for prime time” idea in practice. Here’s why:

• Automatic updates with large downloads work very well for broadband Internet users.

• Although broadband is becoming increasingly popular, many users still rely on dial-up modems.

• Automatic updates, especially large files such as service packs, take way too long for dial-up users.

• Dial-up users are therefore the most likely to have outdated Windows installations. dial-up connection to get

Service Pack 2. There are two other ways to get it:

• You can order the Windows XP Service Pack 2 CD from

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/sp2/

cdorder/en_us/default.mspx. The CD itself is free (shipping is just a few bucks), and you can give the CD to another

user running Service Pack 1 or original Windows XP after you install it.

• Use a friend’s broadband connection to download Windows XP Service Pack 2 from the Microsoft Download

Center

(http://www.microsoft.com/downloads). Enter “Windows XP Service Pack 2 Network Installation Package for IT

Professionals and Developers” to get a link to the file (about 270MB). Burn the downloaded file to a CD and install

Service Pack 2 from the CD.

After you install Service Pack 2 (which also includes SP1 fixes to Windows XP), you can use automatic updates or

Windows Update to keep your system updated.

How to Defragment Your Disk Drive Volumes in Windows XP

Disk Defragmenter MMC is based on the full retail version of Executive Software Diskeeper. The version

that is included with Windows XP and later provides limited functionality in maintaining disk

performance by defragmenting volumes that use the FAT, FAT32, or NTFS file system.


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To start Disk Defragmenter MMC, use one of the methods that is described in this article.

Method 1: Use the Properties of Your Local Disk

1. Open My Computer.

2. Right-click the local disk volume that you want to defragment, and then click Properties.

3. On the Tools tab, click Defragment Now.

4. Click Defragment.

Method 2: Use Computer Management MMC

1. Start Computer Management MMC (Compmgmt.msc).

2. Click Disk Defragmenter.

3. Click the volume that you want to defragment, and then click Defragment.

Method 3: Use Disk Defragmenter MMC.

1. Start Disk Defragmenter MMC (Dfrg.msc).

2. Click the volume that you want to defragment, and then click Defragment.

The version of Disk Defragmenter MMC that is included with Windows XP has the following limitations:

It can defragment only local volumes. It can defragment only one volume at a time.

It cannot defragment one volume while it is scanning another.

It cannot be scheduled. If you need to schedule disk defragmentation, use the Defrag.exe

command line tool. For additional information about using the command line Defrag.exe tool,

click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Description of the New Command Line Defrag.exe Included with Windows XP

It can run only one MMC snap-in at a time.

The third-party products that are discussed in this article are manufactured by companies that are

independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance

or reliability of these products.

Starting Disk Cleanup

Disk Cleanup is available on both Home and Professional versions of XP. The utility can be accessed using the

methods listed below.

Click Start | Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Disk Cleanup Click Start | Run and in the Open box type cleanmgr and click OK In Windows Explorer or My Computer, right-click the disk in which you want to free up space,

click Properties, click theGeneral tab, and then click Disk Cleanup.

http://www.theeldergeek.com/disk_cleanup_utility.htm


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Use the drop down menu arrow to select the drive you want to clean.

Click [OK] and Disk Cleanup will analyze the selected drive to determine the amount of space that can be freed.

Note: Be patient. Analyzing the drive can be a lengthy process depending on drive size and contents.

Once the drive analysis is complete a list of file categories will be presented for your selection.


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Instead of automatically proceeding with cleanup once the drive analysis is complete, Disk Cleanup allows you to

review the categories of files that can be deleted. Click on any of the categories to display more information relative

to that category in the Description section of the window. If you're unsure if you want to delete the files in a

category from the description, use the [View Files] button. A complete list of files scheduled for deletion will be

displayed in Windows Explorer. Use drag and drop to move any files you want to save to a safe location and leave

the category selected. If all the files are to be saved, close the window and then remove the checkmark from the file

category so it will not be included in the disk cleanup. After all the categories have been reviewed, click [OK] to

begin the disk cleanup process.

http://www.theeldergeek.com/disk_cleanup_utility.htm

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