Lesson #41 - Diagnosis And Repair - Part 2

At least 20% of the questions on your DOS/Windows A+ exam will deal with common errors that occur.  Over the next two lessons we're going to deal with the most common of these problems, although the entire realm of problems is far beyond my ability to describe.  What I present will help you pass the exam, but will NOT help you solve every problem you run across.  Windows is just so expansive, to deal with every error would take months and more web page space than I have. 

Printer Errors

There is a fair amount of information on fixing printer errors that you will see on your A+ exam.  Finding printer problems involves a fairly involved process to define and deduce these errors.  Below is a table to explains each step in the process, and why you should perform the steps in that order;

Step Description  Reason

Check The Vitals

 Is the printer turned on?  Is it plugged in?  Is the ready light on?  Does it have paper?  Does it have ink/toner? Most often the simplest solution to a problem turns out to be right.  Check the absolute most obvious things, and often you'll find the problem without having to go through a ton of steps.
Clear Paper Path Remove all paper from the printer and place it back in.  Remove any paper jammed in the pathway. Sometimes the rubber can not grab a sheet of paper properly if the paper is inserted improperly into the printer.  Also, you may find out paper is jammed by removing all the excess paper, or find the paper tray was stuffed too full.  Lastly, little bits of paper that get in the printing path cause poor print quality and jam ink nozzles.
Check The Drivers Make sure that the drivers for the printer are installed, and that the computer can communicate with the printer.  (i.e. Print a test page.) The drivers tell the computer how to react to the printer.  There must be drivers loaded for the printer to work.  Re-installing drivers can often eliminate problems like gibberish printing.
Check The Spool Click the printer icon to make sure that the printing process isn't paused.  Delete any unnecessary print jobs, and re-send the print request. The print spooler handles making sure only one document goes to the printer at a time.  If the print spooler gets paused, all documents after the paused documents will not print.
Check The Port Settings Make sure that if the printer is on LPT1, the driver is set to LPT1.  Make sure in Device Manager that LPT1 is installed and functioning correctly. LPT ports rarely go bad, and most often the drivers will pick up the right port right away.  Still, on the off chance that someone messed with some settings they shouldn't have, it never hurts to check.
Check the Cable Make sure you're using a 25 wire Bi-directional printer cable that is appropriate length for the LPT port. (No more than 15 feet) Every printer made in the last 5 years requires a bi-directional printer cable.  (IEEE 1284)  This allows not only the computer to talk to the printer, but the printer to talk to the computer.  Cables over 15 feet degrade signals and cause data errors.
Check The BIOS Check the printer requirements for Port settings, and set the appropriate setting in the BIOS. Although most printers can use SPP, EPP, or ECP print settings, some older printers are not compatible with these formats.  Ensure you are on the right setting for your printer.
Any steps beyond this will involve fixing problems with the hardware of the printer, and are not covered in this part of the exam.

Basic Network Troubleshooting

So the printer looks okay, but it's on this funky connection that doesn't go straight into the computer.  How do you deal with this?  The first thing you MUST be able to do is identify a computer that is on a network, and then understand how to deal with that computer.  (You don't need to know everything about networking, just enough to identify simple problems.)

The easiest way to tell a network computer is the interface.  All network computers have one of three devices installed; A NIC, a modem, or a Wireless NIC.  The first two have cables that attach directly to a card on the motherboard or ISA/PCI bus.  A wireless NIC has an antenna coming from either the Monitor, or a PCMCIA card installed in a slot on the computer.

Once you've identified a computer is on a network, there are several precautions you must take.  The first is to find out what kind of network the computer is on.  Disconnecting a network cable from a Token Ring network or disconnecting a server can bring down the entire network.  Star and Mesh networks can usually have a single computer removed from the system without any problems, but you should try to keep the computer connected unless you know for certain or there is no other way.

Common Network Problems

The most common software problems that occur when dealing with networks are listed in the table below with a couple quick descriptions;

Problem Solution

Can't Connect To The Network

 This could be dozens of problems.  On the software side, it could mean that the protocols or services needed by this computer are not installed.  It could mean duplicate addressing of a NIC or computer.  You should let a qualified network admin handle these types of problems.  (And peek over his shoulder to watch what he does.)

Can't Connect To Another Computer

 Although this could be a problem from above, it's also possible that it could be a mis-matched password and/or user name.  Check to make sure the user name and password are typed in correctly on both computers.

Can't Print To Network Printer

 Along with what it listed up above for printer problems, there is another situation that can occur.  This is when a printer is part of a network, and not directly connected to the computer.  You must make sure that the network form of the drivers are installed in order to solve this problem.  Some printers do not come with network drivers, so you must download drivers from the manufacturer that are specifically for this installation.

Can Not Access Files On A Remote Computer

 In order for you to gain access to files on another computer, that computer must "Share" them with you.  Make sure that sharing is enabled on the remote computer, and that your user account has permission to use that shared drive.

More About Networks

You probably won't see many questions about networks on your exam that don't deal with Dial-Up networking or Internet Connection Sharing.  That is because the COMPtia A+ program doesn't deal much with networking, as other certifications are meant for this.  None-the-less, if you want to learn more about networking please see our MCSE Starters Tutorial on Network Essentials for more in-depth coverage of networks.

In Conclusion

This concludes the current portion of the COMPtia A+ Certified Technician's Tutorials.  Everything from this point on will only update new information on the exams.  With the information contained in these tutorials, you should be able to fairly easily pass both the Hardware and Operating System.  The information from this day forward will help you pass with a higher grade.

The key to a higher grade is understanding the material totally and completely.  Pick up on details and understand each section we dealt with.  If you don't understand something, no matter how trivial it may seem, use our Get Help program and ask the question.  Although I attempt to make sure every tutorial is perfect, there is always the chance I am wrong.  If you don't question, you won't get the grade you deserve.

The Next Tutorial will deal with new advances in hardware, and how they affect your A+ Certification.