Troubleshooting a laptop or a desktop computer can be a daunting task but with a systematic approach you can learn to cope with some of the headaches when facing a computer crash. There are so many possibilities and scenarios that can cause your computer or laptop to go down. When problems occurs the first thing to do is to determine if you have a software or hardware problem, finding out if the problem is actually a physical issue like a bad component such as memory, hard disk, motherboard etc. or a software issue like a bad driver, a virus or spyware, corrupt system files etc.
If you suspect a software issue and don’t really want to spend the whole day finding out if you have a bad video driver or virus, spyware, or system file corruption, then the best thing to do is to format your computer or laptop, meaning wiping out the hard disk clean. I suggest doing a backup of important data if possible if your operating system is accessible. If your data is extremely important like for most people and a backup system was never put in place before the time of the crash, and the operating system is not accessible, then you will have no choice but to remove your hard disk physically from the computer or the laptop and place it in another computer as a slave. Continue reading →