Troubleshooting flowcharts

Begin

Begin

A hard boot does not complete correctly

Does the PC boot properly? Yes Go to Flowchart 4-4 (p. 74)

No Is the screen blank? No Yes

Go to Troubleshooting  the Electrical System (p. 31)

Don’t know

Yes Can you hear a single beep during boot? No

Go to Troubleshooting  POST Before Video Is Active (p. 26)

Is the problem solved?

Has the OS begun to load?

Can you hear a spinning drive or fan or see lights? No

Reboot

Yes

Read the steps in the boot process Go to Troubleshooting the Boot Process (p. 37)

Yes Go to Troubleshooting  the Video Active (p. 37)

No

Does any error message display while Windows 9x loads? Yes

Is problem solved? Go to Troubleshooting POST  After Video Is Active (p. 28)

Go to Troubleshooting  Loading Windows 9x (p. 44) Go to Troubleshooting  Loading DOS (p. 52) Go to Troubleshooting  Loading Windows NT (p. 54) Go to Troubleshooting  Loading Windows 2000/XP (p. 55)

Yes

Boot using Safe Mode (F5) and go to Using Safe  Mode to Troubleshoot  Windows 9x (p. 47) Is problem solved?

No Yes Stop

Yes Stop

Windows 9x system? No

Yes

No Yes

Problem solved?

Windows NT system?

No

No Yes

No Boot using the Startup menu (F8) and go to Using the Windows 9x  Startup Menu (p. 48)

DOS system?

Yes Stop

Do you have a startup disk?

Windows 2000/XP system? No

No Create a startup disk on another PC

Your OS is not covered in this book

Flowchart 4-1

No

Go to Table 4-6, Error  messages while loading Windows 9x (p. 46)

Troubleshooting Troubl eshooting the boot process

Flowchart 4-2

Yes Boot from a startup disk and go to Using the Windows 9x Emergency  Startup Disk  (p. 51)

Troubleshooting Troubl eshooting loading Windows 9x

Begin

Begin

Reboot the computer 

Can you recreate the problem?

Is problem solved? No

No

Yes Stop

Go to Table 4-9, Error  messages while loading Windows 2000/XP (p. 59)

Yes Stop

Yes

No Reboot and launch the Advanced options menu (Press F8)

No

Yes

This problem is likely caused by a root problem. Back up further in the steps you took to reproduce the problem. Begin with a hard boot.

No

Go to Using Last known Good Configuration to Troubleshoot 2000/XP (p.60)

Is problem solved? No

Yes Suspect the component that was eliminated to be bad

No Have you eliminated all you can? Yes

No

Trade good for suspected bad or trade suspected bad for known good in a working system

Yes Stop

No

Go to When your   System Has an Intermittent  Problem (p. 76)

Troubleshoot that suspected bad component. Go to Troubleshooting Roadmap (p. 9).

Go to Using Safe Mode to Troubleshoot 2000/XP (p.61)

Is problem solved? Yes Stop

Is the problem solved?

No

Did you recently install software or device drivers?

Is problem solved?

Eliminate the unnecessary

Is the problem intermittent?

Does an error message appear  AFTER you see the Windows 2000/XP logo screen? Yes

Yes

Go to Using a Boot Disk to Troubleshoot Windows 2000/XP (p.62)

Is problem solved in the bad system or does it appear in the good system?

Is problem solved? No

Yes

Yes Stop

Go to Using the Recovery Console to Troubleshoot Windows 2000/XP (p.64)

Troubleshoot the bad component. Go to the Troubleshooting Roadmap (p. 9)

Is problem solved? Yes Stop

No Go to Performing a Reinstallation of Windows 2000/XP (p.68)

Is problem solved? No

Yes Stop

Reformat the hard drive and install Windows 2000/XP

Flowchart 4-3

No

Suspected bad is identified

Troubleshooting Troubl eshooting loading Windows 2000/XP

Flowchart 4-4

Steps to solving a PC problem after a successful boot