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As I mentioned earlier we had some problem
with DVD burner crashes and reboots on one of our computers. Since you all who
read this have computers I could give you a short story about mine. The computer
refused to reboot in a normal way but I had to disconnect it entirely from the
power net for perhaps 10 - 15 seconds. Then it again started in a normal way.
Since a normal reboot is needed in order to install updates of drivers, and even
when installing a new the operating system this is an important function. I do
not have to tell you about all the efforts I made with BIOS, chipset drivers,
motherboard drivers, system diagnosis and that kind of sweaty stuff, for 4
days, there are a million possibilities in those systems for a problem to
create.
I also disconnected about all peripheral stuff from
the computer without success. I disconnected two storage harddrives and let the
C drive (master drive) stay connected only. I put in a new C drive in order to
reinstall the OS on it but of course it was impossible since the computer could
not reboot in a normal way. I connected the old C drive again yesterday and
though that we have to unplug the computer from the power every time we are
finished for the day, so that it can be started the next time. I was about ready
to leave it to a computer repair shop at some time later this
month, when we did not need what it contains that much.
However this morning it struck me that I had not
tried to reboot it with the DVD/CD drive and floppy disk drive disconnected at
the same time, a combination I had not thought of. I disconnected them both, it
takes a few seconds to do it without tools if the chassis is already open.
Now the reboot worked wonderfully. I went to a store and bought a new
DVD/CD drive and now everything works fine again, even with the floppy drive
also connected. Obviously the combination of a faulty DVD drive and the floppy
drive, even if without a fault, jammed the restart.
The reason why I decided that the DVD drive was
faulty was that it was hard for me to imagine that a simple stone age floppy
drive that rarely had been used could cause the computer to jam. DVD
drives/burners on the other hand are high-tech and can do anything to "drive"
you mad.
Now, I should have known about this possibility,
since as I now look at that other, older computer, I can see that its DVD
drives colour do not match the chassis colour, at some stage I must have
replaced it, and that reminds me of still an older generation of computers
where I also had to change the DVD drive because it caused trouble.
I guess I have been a technician for too many
decades. My way of working is something like this: Find the problem, Fix the
problem, Forget the problem. Forget I do for sure! Keeping a diary beside the
computer would be a very wise thing to do. Now I "wasted" 4 days for a problem
that would have been solved within a few hours had I had a diary to look back
into.
Anyway, my simple advise is this: If you have a
mysterious problem that you can not diagnose, try to disconnect the
DVD and floppy drives first, if you know enough to open the chassis and was
about to open it anyway. It only takes seconds to do it and the DVD
drives/burners are probably causing mysterious problems more often than the
average of all the other components in the computer. If it doesn't work you have
not wasted more than a few minutes of your time. If it works you have saved
days or even weeks.
Just follow the common rules of working only with
the computer disconnect from any power supply, even peripheral USB devices and
screens, and the protection from static electricity.
Torsti
Borta Med Vindens Kennel
"Ask not what your dog
can do for you.
Ask what you can do for your dog."
www.rospigan.net
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