Troubleshooting guide/Hardware problems

Hardware diagnosis software can be used to determine whether the problems on your PC are being caused by faulty or broken hardware. There are many utilities that are designed to scan the physical components of your computer to check whether they are in good condition.

Technique

How to obtain a list of hardware information:

c:\Windows\System32\dxdiag.exe /t %USERPROFILE%\Desktop\dxdump.txt

and for 64 bit systems:

c:\Windows\System32\dxdiag.exe /64bit /t %USERPROFILE%\Desktop\dxdump.txt

Recommended software

• Free
  • Ultimate Boot CD (UBCD)
  • Hiren's Boot CD

General Troubleshooting

To successfully troubleshoot a problem, it helps to obey the following rules:

1. Never change more than one thing at a time.
2. Write down _everything_.

The general troubleshooting procedure is:

1. Think about the problem to determine whether it results from unintentional side effects. If so, stop.
2. Reboot the computer and determine if the problem is repeatable. If the problem does not occur again, stop.
3. Read the game's documentation and web site to determine if it is a known problem and a solution is available. If so, try it and stop if it works.
4. Search the Internet to determine if a solution from a reliable source is available. If so, try it and stop if it works.
5. Examine records of the problem and classify the problem as deterministic or nondeterministic.
6. Verify the computer operation assumptions are true.
7. Perform stability tests on the computer.
8. Perform data integrity tests on the computer's software.

Problems are classified as deterministic or nondeterministic. Deterministic problems happen the same way every time, nondeterministic problems happen differently each time. Deterministic problems are often caused by software or data corruption. Nondeterministic problems are usually caused by bad hardware.

Computer designs assume that all the following things are true. If any one of these assumptions is not true, it may be the source of the problem.

• The computer is not overheating. Fans are clean and have enough space in front and behind them to cool the electronics.
• The computer's real-time clock is set correctly.
• The computer's user is in full control of the computer, and the computer is not being given conflicting commands by other users or software from the network.
• The computer does not have unreliable or faulty peripherals attached to it.
• The computer has a reliable power supply.
• The computer's memory is perfectly reliable.
• The computer has enough extra disk storage for any virtual memory it may need.
• The computer is fast enough and has sufficient cooling for the work it is being asked to do.
• The computer's internal connectors are clean and signals pass through them reliably.
• The computer user is not actively attempting to run the computer outside specifications (overclocking, undervolting, etc.)
• The computer's user is not actively trying to deceive the hardware or software.

Stability Testing

Many parts of a PC work together to run a game. Crashes are often caused by problems where two or more parts interact. The first question to be asked when a crash occurs is whether the PC is stable without the game running.

Power Supply Unit

Nondeterministic problems are sometimes caused by a bad power supply unit (PSU). If the power supply is not stable, it is futile to test other parts of the system because they will yield inconsistent results. Power supplies do not indicate whether they are having problems because they generally do not include self-testing hardware. The best way to test a power supply is with a special PC power supply tester. If one is not available, swapping the PSU with another one of different make will fix the problem if the PSU is bad. Otherwise, the problem is likely elsewhere.

Memory

Memory stability testing is performed using the memtest86+ utility.

Disks

Disk stability testing is performed using smartmontools. Using the -x argument to the utility, verify the following:

• The disk is not overheating. (SSDs may not have a temperature sensor, measure their temperature some other way.)
• The disk is not reporting read or write faults in its error log.
• The disk is not reporting a pre-fail condition.

If each of those items are true, then follow the directions to perform a short selftest. Verify that the disk executes and passes this test. If not, go to the disk vendor web site's support section and follow the directions to download their disk analysis software. Follow the directions to obtain a specific problem report and return the disk if it is under warranty. If the disk is not under warranty, swap the disk for a new one.

CPU

Intel CPU testing is performed using the Intel Processor Diagnostic Tool.

AMD does not release diagnostic software for end users. Use Prime95 to stress test the CPU and see if it fails. The Windows Event Log may record a machine check error code; this will provide more specific information on what caused the problem.