Real World PC Hardware Troubleshooting Test
- Thread starter EyeMWing
- Start date
Answers:
What is the best way to check PSU voltages?
Multimeter. If you need to be told this, you need to be smacked.
Syringer's computer won't POST. You own a diagnostic tool that reads POST status codes from the 80h I/O port. Using this tool, you discover that the code the system is stuck at it FF. No other codes are written to 80h. What is wrong with Syringer's computer?
FF means that either POST has completed successfully, or that POST never started. Since the board isn't POSTing, there has been a catastrophic failure, or no BIOS is present. SOMETIMES, particularly on older boards, this is also due to an absent or faulty CPU, but this seems to have fallen out of favor in recent years.
On occasion, an ATA133 Maxtor drive in one of your rigs makes loud clicking sounds, as if the heads are parking, and the drive spins down, and then spins back up. Windows often locks up when this happens. What is the most likely cause?
This is a tricky one. This can either be caused by a bad/unseated IDE cable, or by impending failure.
On your customer's brand new Athlon64 system, which incorporates AMD's retail heatsink/fan assembly, the fan often stops and restarts. What is wrong?
Virtually all modern systems shut off the CPU fan based on temperature. This is the most likely cause. A dying fan would exibit itself other ways before doing this.
You have a motherboard. The motherboard has a 24-pin ATX header. You will be using it in a standard ATX chassis. What kind of power supply can you use?
Technically, the correct answer is an ATX12v 2.0 PSU, but an EPS12v will also fit and do the same thing in a pinch; it just isn't necciserily built to the official ATX12v design specs.
If you were handed two power supplies with equal wattage ratings, and all their labeling had been removed, how could you tell which one would most likely be the more reliable unit? (You cannot open the power supply)
Heavier is usually better, because heavier indicates bigger heatsinks, which indicates over-engineering.
You have a customer who is attempting to use an AGP GF6800 on a Pentium 500's motherboard. What do you do?
This is more of a question of business style, but IMO, stupid tax all the way.
How many screw holes are on the BOTTOM of a hard drive?
Usually, there's 4. In fact, I've never seen anything other than 4. On the SIDES, there are 6.
In a hardware chatroom on IRC, you hear someone joking about a new cooling system "Being even less effective than a greenie." WTFBBQ is a Greenie?
A laughable chipset heatsink from back in the day.
How many pins are on an IDE header?
40. There are 80 leads in most cables, but 40 pins.
RossMAN uncovers a pricematching scheme that nets him 2 serial ATA and 4 parallel ATA hard drives. His motherboard has two IDE channels and two SATA ports. Can he install all these drives into his gaming computer (and still be able to play games with ease)
NO! He still needs an optical drive.
Extra credit: What's the Molex part number for a 24pin male ATX header such as you would find on a new power supply (without the pins)
39-01-2240 (See: http://www.formfactors.org/developer%5Cspecs%5CATX12V_PSDG_2_2_public_br2.pdf for more information)
What is the best way to check PSU voltages?
Multimeter. If you need to be told this, you need to be smacked.
Syringer's computer won't POST. You own a diagnostic tool that reads POST status codes from the 80h I/O port. Using this tool, you discover that the code the system is stuck at it FF. No other codes are written to 80h. What is wrong with Syringer's computer?
FF means that either POST has completed successfully, or that POST never started. Since the board isn't POSTing, there has been a catastrophic failure, or no BIOS is present. SOMETIMES, particularly on older boards, this is also due to an absent or faulty CPU, but this seems to have fallen out of favor in recent years.
On occasion, an ATA133 Maxtor drive in one of your rigs makes loud clicking sounds, as if the heads are parking, and the drive spins down, and then spins back up. Windows often locks up when this happens. What is the most likely cause?
This is a tricky one. This can either be caused by a bad/unseated IDE cable, or by impending failure.
On your customer's brand new Athlon64 system, which incorporates AMD's retail heatsink/fan assembly, the fan often stops and restarts. What is wrong?
Virtually all modern systems shut off the CPU fan based on temperature. This is the most likely cause. A dying fan would exibit itself other ways before doing this.
You have a motherboard. The motherboard has a 24-pin ATX header. You will be using it in a standard ATX chassis. What kind of power supply can you use?
Technically, the correct answer is an ATX12v 2.0 PSU, but an EPS12v will also fit and do the same thing in a pinch; it just isn't necciserily built to the official ATX12v design specs.
If you were handed two power supplies with equal wattage ratings, and all their labeling had been removed, how could you tell which one would most likely be the more reliable unit? (You cannot open the power supply)
Heavier is usually better, because heavier indicates bigger heatsinks, which indicates over-engineering.
You have a customer who is attempting to use an AGP GF6800 on a Pentium 500's motherboard. What do you do?
This is more of a question of business style, but IMO, stupid tax all the way.
How many screw holes are on the BOTTOM of a hard drive?
Usually, there's 4. In fact, I've never seen anything other than 4. On the SIDES, there are 6.
In a hardware chatroom on IRC, you hear someone joking about a new cooling system "Being even less effective than a greenie." WTFBBQ is a Greenie?
A laughable chipset heatsink from back in the day.
How many pins are on an IDE header?
40. There are 80 leads in most cables, but 40 pins.
RossMAN uncovers a pricematching scheme that nets him 2 serial ATA and 4 parallel ATA hard drives. His motherboard has two IDE channels and two SATA ports. Can he install all these drives into his gaming computer (and still be able to play games with ease)
NO! He still needs an optical drive.
Extra credit: What's the Molex part number for a 24pin male ATX header such as you would find on a new power supply (without the pins)
39-01-2240 (See: http://www.formfactors.org/developer%5Cspecs%5CATX12V_PSDG_2_2_public_br2.pdf for more information)
With ease. Buying things is not easy for RossMAN, he needs to spend at least 8 hours of research for a $20 item such as a drive cage.
That's also a possibility that I never thought of (since all my real-world experience with that has been the fscking IDE cable coming loose from tension)
You know, looking at the results, it's shocking that some people on here actually have working computers... And then I realize that they "buy Dell because it's not cost effective to do it yourself anymore" and 5 or 6 other pages of worthless, baseless justification for their inability to get it right.
Demon-Xanth
Lifer
- Feb 15, 2000
- 20,551
- 2
- 81
The 39-01-2240 is the PS side, NOT the motherboard side. It's not a male header. Just a female connector. Headers are PCB mounted. As far as the comment about the optical drive being needed... USB enclosure 
Nice, but Ross could also hook up the HDDs via external hard drives thru firewire or USB2.0. That would still leave space for opticals.
Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth
The 39-01-2240 is the PS side, NOT the motherboard side. It's not a male header. Just a female connector. Headers are PCB mounted. As far as the comment about the optical drive being needed... USB enclosure
True. Should clarify the wording on that question.
But re: the external enclosures, he's RossMAN, cheapest of the cheap. What if there are no hot deals on enclosures at the moment?
Demon-Xanth
Lifer
- Feb 15, 2000
- 20,551
- 2
- 81
i love how there are consistantly less votes the farther down the poll you go. people just give up when they realize this is too hard. I gave up after 4 btw
Cop out. Sh!t happens, and you know it.
Did you happen to "build" your computer in the Dell XPS Gen 4 configurator?
ActuaryTm
Diamond Member
- Mar 30, 2003
- 6,858
- 12
- 81
Motion to change question # 11 to the following (for accuracy):
- RossMAN uncovers a pricematching scheme that nets him 2 serial ATA and 4 parallel ATA hard drives. His motherboard has two IDE channels and two SATA ports. Can he fit all these drives into his stove without upsetting MrsHoneybee?
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