Troubleshooting, Maintaining, and Repairing PCs (with CD-ROM) - Hardcover

Bigelow, Stephen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0072126868 ISBN 13: 9780072126860

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 2000

Synopsis

Stephen J. Bigelow, the #1 author in PC hardware, has done it again--the ultimate PC reference has been fully revised and updated! With this authoritative resource on hand, you'll be able to solve all of your PC problems, including conflicts, power supply issues, error codes, virus aftermath, and much more. Inside, you'll find an indispensable "Symptoms-at-a-Glance" section which lists specific solutions to more than 2,000 PC problems. In addition, all the material covered on the A+ and CST certification exams is included. The bonus CD-ROM is loaded with more than 120 ready-to-use tools and utilities.

About this title

Review:

Troubleshooting, Maintaining & Repairing PCs combines authoritative reference material on IBM-standard personal computers with condition-specific troubleshooting advice. Author Stephen Bigelow provides loads of technical reference information but combines it with how-to advice that clearly derives from experience in the hardware repair and upgrade industry. An update to popular earlier editions, this book includes new information about the latest processors and peripherals. As he always has, Bigelow distinguishes his work with coverage of hardware jobs others shun, such as the safe disassembly of a video monitor.

The most intriguing feature of this book is its "Symptoms at a Glance" section, in which Bigelow lists hundreds of conditions with references to the pages on which he discusses them. The descriptions of the symptoms are good--"A device driver small enough for the available UMA fails to load there" and "A 096xxxx error code appears" are two examples--but finding your problem in the list can prove challenging because the symptoms are grouped by the chapters in which they appear. Your best bet is to scan the table of contents for the chapters that discuss the likely sources of your problem, and then scan the symptoms listed for those chapters one by one. Once you've found the reference to the appropriate page, you'll be impressed by Bigelow's tight prose and the depth of the experience he shares. --David Wall

Topics covered: The boot process, BIOS variations, motherboards, processors, persistent storage (including magnetic hard disks, CD-ROM drives, and DVD drives), buses, ports, input devices, monitors, and multimedia peripherals.

From the Back Cover:

The Ultimate PC Reference -- Fully Revised and Updated. Solve all of your PC problems--from motherboard conflicts and power supply issues to error codes and virus symptoms--quickly and thoroughly with this comprehensive troubleshooting reference. Fully updated and expanded, this new edition covers the latest technologies and peripherals, including DVD drives and GHz processors. By using the well-organized "Symptoms-at-a-Glance" section, you'll be able to locate reliable solutions to common and little-known PC problems and reduce system downtime. This essential volume also contains all the material covered on the A+ and CST certification exams and includes a CD-ROM packed with more than 120 ready-to-use tools and utilities. This is the most authoritative and complete PC resource available. Learn to: Troubleshoot hard drives and memory systems Identify and replace damaged and faulty components Decide when it's cheaper to replace than repair Understand operating systems and the boot process Know what's wrong immediately with more than 2000 "Symptoms-at-a-Glance" Enhance system performance Interpret beep codes and other error messages Install upgrades and new peripherals

About this edition

• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Book Company
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0072126868
• ISBN 13: 9780072126860
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 4
• Number of pages: 2000