5 Common Computer Problems and How to Tell If They Are Hardware or Software Related

You are working on a very important project or might be chasing a stringent deadline, and suddenly your computer becomes slow or it hangs. Isn’t that annoying? Many times it so happens that your computer works perfectly fine while watching Netflix but the moment you tune into an important work of yours, your computer starts malfunctioning. In that case, it is important that you know the basics of a problem and be able to differentiate between software related and hardware related issues.

Here is a list of some common computer problems and how to identify if they are computer hardware components or software related:

• Failing to boot:

Booting of a computer refers to the process of switching on the computer and starting the operating system. In this process, the operating system is loaded into the main memory, or Random Access Memory (RAM) that is installed on the computer. So, this is the most common problem faced by every individual even before the computer starts up. The causes for such a problem can vary from a loose cable, bad electrical wiring, video card needs to be replaced or other problematic hardware. These were the causes when the computer does not even start or show up anything. But if it starts and then fails in midway of the booting process you are on the fence. It may either be a software related or hardware related issue.

Firstly we must consider the brain of the computer that is the CPU. If it is the reason behind the problem, then your computer must be showing a blue screen during booting. Overheating of the CPU can also lead to failure of booting.

• Blue screen showing:

While there are only a few minutes left to submit your assignment on time, the blue screen can be a red herring. The blue background with white text and an error message is generally caused due to hardware problems, hardware driver software problems, or low-level software running. When a blue screen appears on the desktop the Windows crash and stops working. A blue screen can lead to huge data loss and is no less than a nightmare. To identify the cause of this, you can go to minidumps created by the computer in the disk.

Moreover, a blue screen looks different and has different text written in different versions of the Windows operating system. Check the hardware or drivers that have been recently installed on the computer. Hardware such as Motherboard, RAM, or graphics card may also be responsible.

• Corrupted files:

If your computer is perfectly protected by an antivirus and is within the security boundaries you might not have to face this problem. But if not, there are chances of corrupted files damaging your computer. A corrupted file is nothing but a file that is no more accessible and useful since every time you try to open it, it shows an error message. The data stored in that file is lost, and you cannot regain it. Corrupt files can be caused due to infected files, viruses, system crash, bad sectors of hard disk, etc. It can be easily identified that the problem is within the hard disk itself. To check, you must carry out a scanning process and if there are no viruses found, fix the hard disk, and there will be no corrupt files again.

• Random computer crashes:

Crashing of computer can be due to various reasons such as overheating of the computer due to continuous use, or any hardware or software related problems. You can conclude that the reason behind random computer crashes is problematic RAM. Due to this, the data written on RAM for short term usage is lost and can’t be gained back.

• Overheating:

Fans in the CPU are fitted to prevent the system from overheating, but in case the fan fails, it may result in CPU and hardware related problems.

Now that the common problems related to computer hardware and software are well explained, one should always know how to fix these problems.

• Fixing boot failure: To fix boot failure in your computers follow these simple steps-

1. Restart the computer and go to BIOS.
2. Go to the Boot tab and change the hard disk as the first option.

• Make sure you save these settings and restart the computer.
• Fixing the blue screen error: For blue screen of death fix follows these steps:

1. Go to ‘My computer‘ icon and click on the ‘Properties’ option.
2. In this window, click on Advanced or Advanced system setting links.

• Then visit the ‘Startup and Recovery ‘ option and uncheck the ‘Automatically Restart ‘box.

1. Click on OK.

• Fixing corrupted files: To fix corrupted files in your system, you can try any of these options listed below:

1. You can try and change the file format to fix a corrupted file. For example, you can change a word document to a PDF file. There are many websites on the internet that help you in doing so in order to access important data that has been lost.
2. We all know that a file originally set up in a single format can be opened up and viewed by many other programs as well. So you can always try opening a corrupted file in a different program in case you regain the data.

• Fixing random computer crashes: There are numerous ways in which you can fix random computer crashes. One of them is by disabling fast setup. For this, you need to enter into the control panel and open ‘Hardware and Sound.’ Click on Power option and after selecting ‘Choose what the power buttons do’ click on ‘ Change settings.’ Finally, uncheck the box with the option ” Turn on Fast Startup” and click on the Save button.
• Fixing overheating of the system: Always make sure that the fan of the CPU is in working condition. This will ensure that the essential part if the system works efficiently.

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