Would you agree with this statement: Always do basic hardware checks first...

[Vicenarian]

Would you agree with this statement, when diagnosing/beginning to work on a computer, regardless of the problem it has:

Always do basic hardware diagnostics/checks first.


The reason I post, is that I have seen cases where people failed to do basic hardware tests first, and just assumed it was a software problem. They then spent many hours trying to fix the issue, when in fact it was a hardware problem. One case comes to mind that I can remember, where an individual thought he had a severe virus infected, and many other symptoms that did appear to be related to a virus infection, but it turned out it was bad RAM that was causing the issues. What's your take on this?

 

[Appleby]

For me the question is too vague. It has to be a case by case for me to answer. If I think I know what the problem is, or what the likely problem is, I go there first. If I'm wrong on my first 2-3 hunches, then ya I might start from square one, but I don't have time to rule out hardware when I'm pretty sure it's a software problem. If I'm wrong, then ya, I'll back up and start over.

Also in my business, I see 50 to 1 software problems over hardware. So if I test the hardware 50 times, even when I don't think I need to, only one of the times was it worthwhile. I save MORE than enough time on the other 49 repairs to justify spending the extra time backtracking on that one hardware repair.

And again, you are talking about every time..... I'm not talking about the times when I have no idea what the problem is. Sure I'll start with hardware then if it's a possible cause.

 

[nj_computer_repair]

Would you agree with this statement, when diagnosing/beginning to work on a computer, regardless of the problem it has:

For me, it really depends on the issue. If I've seen it before or something similar and if was a software related issue, I would definitely start there.

That being said, I definitely spent many hours troubleshooting software issues that were hardware related and visa versa. It just comes with the territory. As you tack on experience, you learn from your old mistakes. You always learn from troubleshooting whether you're troubleshooting the right thing or not. It's never time lost.

 

[NYJimbo]

"Do you agree: Always do hardware checks/diag. first"

No.

 

[iptech]

it turned out it was bad RAM that was causing the issues.

Seriously, how much 'bad RAM' have you honestly come across? Blaming hardware sounds like lame cop-out to buy you Google time & screw the customer for unnecessary hardware replacements.

Software problems are far more prevalent than hardware issues. Always listen to the customer first, then decide upon your diagnostics.

 

[tackify]

It does seem like, with the example given. if I have a problem that I think is virus related, it's sure gonna end up to be virus related way more often than it ends up being bad RAM.

I say check what's seems most likely to be the cause and work down hill from there.

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

Would you agree with this statement, when diagnosing/beginning to work on a computer, regardless of the problem it has:

Always do basic hardware diagnostics/checks first.

For me, I'll see 5 or more hardware problems for every 1 software issue. On every machine I'll run the correct diagnostic for the particular model directly from Apple just to verify there are no blatantly obvious failures (which is almost the only times the diags ever fail a component). Beyond that if it is a problem that is intermittent, then that whole theory gets turned around into verify it's not a software problem by trying to reduplicate the problem booted to another system and then check hardware.

 

[MobileTechie]

It's hard to answer a yes or no for this.

I've had problems where I've not done h/w tests and wasted some of my time. However there are many more situations where testing would have been a waste of time.

But I will say that if it's a workshop job (as opposed to onsite), not overly urgent and h/w problems might possibly explain it then I will often run disk and memory tests before I start work.

 

[Cambridge PC Support]

the most frequent hw failure I find is hdds, laptops more than desktops for obvious reasons

if Windows boots then I always look in the event logs for disk errors - other than that I don't test hw

you kinda get an intuition after doing loads of repairs for whether it's hw or sw causing issues

 

[atlanticjim]

the most frequent hw failure I find is hdds, laptops more than desktops for obvious reasons

if Windows boots then I always look in the event logs for disk errors - other than that I don't test hw

you kinda get an intuition after doing loads of repairs for whether it's hw or sw causing issues

I have to agree here. Although I would use the term "experience" vs. "intuition". Analogy to medicine (my other profession). If someone comes to me with a fever, I will be looking for the usual suspects,infectious processes, and not a fractured bone.

Seriously, how much 'bad RAM' have you honestly come across?
Software problems are far more prevalent than hardware issues. Always listen to the customer first, then decide upon your diagnostics.

I thought the same thing until I had two RAM failures in about a month and a half. The first one I was chasing down a BSOD until I MEMtested from a bootdisk. . bingo . . bad ram stick. The next BSOD (on my wife's laptop) I MEMtested first and found a bad stick.

 

[red12049]

Seriously, how much 'bad RAM' have you honestly come across? Blaming hardware sounds like lame cop-out to buy you Google time & screw the customer for unnecessary hardware replacements.

Software problems are far more prevalent than hardware issues. Always listen to the customer first, then decide upon your diagnostics.

Very location dependent. I live in an area with a very high incidence of lightning strikes. For me I probably see 50-50 year round, tipping towards hardware during the spring and summer months. Otherwise, I agree with your advice.

Rick

 

[Vicenarian]

thanks for your input everyone. I agree that it should be decided on a case to case basis...I guess I should have reworded it like this,


"If you are doing general troubleshooting (and don't really know what the issue is), do you do basic hardware checks first?"

I think that would have been a more concrete question.

 

[BrianB]

I always check to see if it's plugged in first.

Other than that, case by case.

 

[Skyhooker]

Depends on the problem and how you define "basic." I start every desktop repair with dust removal and a visual inspection of the case interior, looking especially for bad caps. That alone has saved me lots of time avoiding things like virus removal from a machine that's on its last leg and just ain't worth repairing. While I'm in there, I also check for loose cables.

I've also begun running a scan with MHDD to look for bad/slow HDD sectors, same reason as above, although obviously a dying HDD is still worth replacing in most cases.

As for things like Memtest, unless the situation calls for it, no - I don't consider it basic.

 

[Laimbo]

I would not unless I think there is a chance that a software error is indirectly caused by hardware. Ie. not booting to windows caused by a faulty harddrive. I just don't have time to be running HDD and Memory tests on every PC that comes through.