Posting Guidelines
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For all your problems, which, without details, is hard.
Things like "My computer just BSODed" is not going to help. Other than knowing it blue screens, we have no way of continuing.
So here's a general guide on what to post when asking for help. It's not meant to be fixed. Different computers have different issues.
If your computer experiences Blue Screen of Death...
For those who have no idea what's a blue screen of death is, see this picture.
Do the following in order to provide us with the details:
For Vista
- Click on Start > Control Panel and double click on System. If you can't see System, kindly switch to Classic View by clicking on the Classic View link on the left.
- On the left, click on the Advanced system settings link. If UAC is turned on, you will receive a prompt. Click on Continue.
- Under Startup and Recovery, click on the Settings button. A new window will open.
- In the new window, you will see 2 sections. Look under System Failure section. Untick the Automatically restart box and click OK all the way to apply the settings.
For XP
- Click on Start > Control Panel and double click on System. If you can't see System, switch to Classic View.
- Select the Advanced tab.
- Under Startup and Recovery, click on the Settings button. A new window will open.
- In the new window, look under System Failure section. Untick the Automatically restart box and click OK all the way to apply the settings.
When the blue screen of death of occurs, post the following details:
- Your operating system. Vista, XP, etc. We're not going to guess.
- The STOP error. Referring to this picture, under Technical Information section, you see this: STOP: 0x00000050 (0xFD3094C2, 0x00000001, 0xFBFE7617, 0x00000000). That is the STOP error. Please post this STOP error.
- Type of error. Referring to the same, you see this: PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA. This is the type of error. Post this as well.
- File. If Windows runs into a problem with a file, it will say so. In that particular picture, that file was SPCMDCON.SYS. If yours have a file listed as well, please post it.
- What were doing with the computer when the error occurs. For example, you were playing a game when it starts.
- Any newly installed and/or uninstalled program(s) before this blue screen of death occurs? If so, please state them.
- What steps did you take to correct the error? For our sanity sake, if you have done something that we don't know, please state so. Some things can be disastrous for Windows. Like registry cleaning. If you didn't do anything to it, that's OK. Just be honest.
If your computer is slow...
The following details are to be posted:
- Your operating system
- Your computer specs
- Amount of RAM
- Processor speed
- Total amount of HDD space and the amount of HDD space left
- When you last defrag your hard disk. If you have no idea what's that, it's fine.
- For XP, you can run this file. This file basically tells us what is running on startup. Save this file to a convenient location and run it. Don't run it directly via a browser (Firefox, IE, etc)
If your computer randomly restarts...
The following details are to be posted:
- Your operating system
- What were you doing when the computer restarts. Like playing games, editing video, etc
- Any error(s) shown before the computer restarts.
- Your computer temperature. Download Speedfan and install it. Please post back the temperatures of your computer hardware.
If your program crashes...
The following details are to be posted:
- Your operating system
- The program which crashed
- Any updates you did to the program before it crashes
- The error shown to you. Please take a screenshot if you are lazy to type out. Press the Print Screen or Prt Scr button. On laptops, you may need to press the Fn button in order to take a screenshot. Open your favourite image editor (no image editor, click on Start > Run and type in mspaint and press Enter) and paste it into the editor. Save the picture, upload it to an image hosting server (like xs.to or Photobucket) and post it here. Please use the Direct Link provided by the image hoster, not any other links provided. An example:
Computer can't boot...
This will be divided into 2 sections, hardware and software issues.
Hardware
- Any newly added hardware? Did you remove any hardware?
- Did you hear any beeping sounds when starting up the computer? If so, how does it sound like? High pitch, low pitch, long beep, short beep, a series with some pattern (e.g. long, short, long, short)
- Computer specs
- RAM and the type (SDRAM, DDR, DDR2)
- Hard disk and the type (IDE or SATA)
- Motherboard model
- Graphics card (if any)
- Power Supply wattage rating (e.g. 400W)
Software
- Your operating system
- Any newly updates/programs recently and/or removal of programs
- At what stage did it stop booting (e.g. Windows shows "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: C:\Windows\system32\hal.dll is missing or corrupt" )
Networking problems...
Can't connect to the Internet
- List the security programs installed on your computer (which are antivirus, firewall, antispyware, etc)
- Your ISP
- Your router and/or modem model number
- If using wireless adapter, please state if you are using wireless USB adapter or a wireless card
For SP (Singapore Polytechnic) students
This is aimed at SP students. No offence, but due to recent spate of bad configurations and students losing connections, it has to be done.
Students using Internet Explorer 6
- Open Internet Explorer.
- Click on Tools > Internet Options.
- Click on the Connections tab.
- Under Local Area Network (LAN) settings, click on LAN settings button.
- Under Proxy Server, check that the Use a proxy server for your LAN (These settings will not apply to dial-up or VPN) box doesn't have a tick. If it is ticked, unticked the box. Click OK all the way to apply the settings.
Students using Internet Explorer 7
- Open Internet Explorer.
- Click on Tools > Internet Options.
- Click on the Connections tab.
- Under Local Area Network (LAN) settings, click on LAN settings button.
- Under Proxy Server, check that the Use a proxy server for your LAN (These settings will not apply to dial-up or VPN) box doesn't have a tick. If it is ticked, unticked the box. Click OK all the way to apply the settings.
Setting up wireless and securing it
- Your ISP
- Your new wireless router model brand + model number
One computer can connect to the Net, the other one can't
- Your ISP
- Your router brand + model number
- Your network setup (Example: modem > router > Internet). Sample image below.
- State if you are using wireless USB adapter or a wireless card if the computer using wireless is facing problems
Securing wireless network
- Wireless router brand + model number
Others
If it falls nowhere... start a new topic, describing your problem as detailed as possible. If needed, show screenshots...
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Kindly take note of this few rules:
- we are still humans after all. We have our own personal lives outside this forum, and it's kind of impossible to be here 24/7 to troubleshoot. Thus, please be patient (i know it's hard) and we will get back to you asap.
- we would like to seek your kind understanding on the issue of bumping up your threads -- bumping once or twice is quite ok, as it's quite unfair to other forumers seeking help too.
- Please do not create new threads for bumping up your unsolved problems. An example would be "help my computer is still not fixed". Reply to your old thread instead. The topic would be immediately closed.
- We do make mistakes, judgements and errors too.
- Any flaming threads/posts would be immediately closed/ edited. This applies to posts that contain vulgarities
- We do not spoonfeed you. We are giving a service. If you do not wish to help yourself by giving correct details ect, or being truthful about how you got the problem ect. We will be unable to help you.
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Updated because of SP keeps breaking things. SP students facing internet issues please read this first. If after checking and your connections don't work, please start a new topic.
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