How to recovery from computer crashes and hardware failures
Written on by Kay
Computer Homicides
Everyone’s aware of the malware that can turn your PC into a salivating zombie. If an anti-virus injection and a thorough spyware scrubbing yield zero results, then you can always do a clean install of Windows to make things right again. That’s the beauty of software: its ability to bounce back when you start from scratch with a reboot or reinstall. Unfortunately, hardware doesn’t work this way. When your hardware fails or kicks the bucket, you’ll need to spend money as well as time in fixing it. There are all sorts of ways your hardware components inside your computer can become damaged, some user-inflected, others caused by simple age and high mileage.
PSU: Power Supply Unit
The majority of computer deaths is caused by the PSU, that little box in the back of your PC. The box may be tiny and hidden away in your computer’s case, but it’s burdened with the taxing responsibility of filtering the dangerous wall voltage into digestible chunks to feed your PC’s internal components. When a PSU becomes defunct, it often sends out arbitrary jolts of electricity throughout the system, which can fry components silly.
Fortunately, you can protect yourself and your PC by purchasing a PSU from a reputable company. Most power supply units that die before their time are manufactured by companies that exercise little or no quality control over their products. Buying a name brand PSU not only gives you peace of mind but also ups the chances of your PC living a longer life. Also, make sure you keep a can of compressed air at hand, blowing all dust and debris that’s apt to accumulate and cake around your PSU, fans, and vents.
Heat Is The Enemy
Too much heat for anything is never good. Food gets burnt. Your car’s engine burns up. Your computer’s processor melts. It’s vital that you keep your PC’s internal components operating in a cool environment, and it’s especially important for your computer’s CPU—central processing unit. The brains or your computer, the CPU works extra hard crunching data. The more your processor is taxed, the hotter it’s going to get. Failing to cool down your processor with fans and a heat sink is tantamount to a car operating minus a cooling system: things will burn up and ultimately fail and cost you money.
If you’re a do-it-yourself kind of person, make sure you install your heat sink on properly. Follow the directions and apply the thermal compound properly. Also, don’t forget to remove the protective plastic covering over the compound before applying it. Ensure that the heat sink is sitting flush on the CPU and that the CPU’s fan is plugged in and operating optimally.
Power Quality
The electricity being fed into your PC needs to be regulated. A power surge can strike your computer dead. In an ideal world, every computer should be protected by a surge protector or a UPS—uninterrupted power supply. A UPS makes sure that the voltage that’s entering your computer remains consistent, so a sudden power surge won’t render your PC completely useless should you have the misfortune of experiencing one.
Static electricity can also be harmful to your PC’s internal hardware. A lot of your computer’s components, memory for example, are used to being fed a small amount of electricity at a time, so while a little static shock might not be that big deal to you, that tiny shock is bad news for RAM. If you work inside of your computer, first off, always make sure that you’ve unplugged it from the power supply. Secondly, make sure you ground yourself (disperse static from your person) before touching any of the internal components. Anti-static wrist straps are also a good idea if you’re going to be operating on your computer a lot.
