Tips for troubleshooting computer hardware

Troubleshooting hardware can be very challenging and take hours or days to complete. The first thing I usually do is download the latest drivers and software from the hardware manufacturers for my version of the operating system and hardware I am using. I also make sure that every thing is plugged in correctly to my PC, and all my cables work . I try the piece on a  different computer with the same operating system to see if it works.  If it works on another computer, I do a repair install of Windows by running the upgrade wizard for my Windows install CD to repair my version of Windows. If the repair install did not fix my problem with my computer hardware, I will do a clean install by backing up all my files and reinstalling Windows. If it still does not work then I need to exchange it at the store or find a computer which it will work fine on.

Upgrading my BIOS also can work at fixing my computer hardware, but it can be very risky since if there is a power outage during a BIOS update my motherboard will be broken unless I can somehow replace the BIOS chip on the motherboard which can be very hard or impossible. Trying different software to see if  my hardware works for my computer also might work.

You can also try contacting bloggers, webmasters, and friends who are knowledgeable in computer repair and troubleshooting.

I also recommend you guys try Google.com, Ask.com, Bing.com, Yahoo Answers, Answers.com, Computer Forums, and other social and interactive websites which you can use to look for answers about pc repair.

Recently, I tried to install a Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-850 USB TV Tuner. It works fine in Windows Vista Home Premium on Win TV 7, but it refused to work properly in Windows 7 Home Premium . I keep getting a no-signal error for WinTV 7 in Windows 7. What I find weird is I tried using my TV tuner with KMplayer, and I get a video signal from the TV tuner, but no sound in Windows 7.  The box, Hauppauge and Microsoft website said the WinTV HVR 850 works  for Windows 7 , but it is not working for me in Windows 7. I also read the reviews which say they are using the TV tuner in Windows 7, and it works great.

I learned my lesson which is “Just because the box, and other sites, and people say something will work for a PC.” It does not always work.

My last hope in resolving this problem will probably be Hauppauge Tech support, or doing a clean install of Windows 7 Home Premium which takes a long time to do since I have a slower PC.

I think I just buy another hard drive to install Windows 7 onto since I don’t feel like doing a clean install of Windows, or repartitioning my drive to install another copy of Windows 7. I just use my new clean install of Windows 7 on my new drive for running my TV Tuner, hardware, and software that does not want to work with my current install of Windows 7, and use my current install on my old hard drive of Windows 7  to do my regular stuff like word proccessing, graphic design, gaming, and web browsing.

Plus, if I wreck one of my installs of Windows 7, I can always boot onto my other install of Windows 7 to easily recover my files before I reimage or clean install Windows 7 on the drive with the broken version of Windows 7. Another benefit is I can put the swap file on another drive which is not the  Windows system drive, so my computer does not have to read files and swap files on the same time. This will lighten the load for the system drive and make the swap file run more smoothly since the hard drive head does not have to move to the swap file then back to the opened file because the swap file is doing its own job on a separate drive with a dedicated hard drive head for swapping.

I think I get this hard drive Western Digital Caviar Blue 500 GB Bulk/OEM Hard Drive 3.5 Inch, 16 MB Cache, 7200 RPM SATA II WD5000AAKS since it’s inexpensive for a drive with so much space, and a 16MB cache. Plus, Western Digital drives are durable. I been using a WD drive in my current computer for about a year and a half, and it is still running very smoothly.