GENERAL

TROUBLESHOOTING
PROCEDURES
WHAT IS TROUBLESHOOTING?
 A logical, systematic process to determine:
 “What” happened?
 “Why” it happened?
 A method to develop effective repairs based on this knowledge
WHY TROUBLESHOOT?

 Troubleshooting is essential because it helps you identify

and fix problems with your devices or systems .
 To prevent repeated incidents of equipment failure
WHY IT'S IMPORTANT
TO TROUBLESHOOT
Prevents further damage: Early detection and resolution of problems can prevent
minor issues from escalating into major failures, potentially saving you money and
frustration.
Maintains functionality: Troubleshooting keeps your devices and systems running
smoothly, ensuring you can continue using them for work, entertainment, or other
important tasks.
Improves performance: By resolving issues like slow performance or glitches, you
can optimize your devices for better efficiency and responsiveness.
Extends device lifespan: Addressing problems proactively can help extend the life of
your hardware by preventing premature wear and tear.
Saves money: Fixing minor problems yourself can often be more cost-effective than
replacing the entire device or system.
Boosts technical skills: Troubleshooting helps you learn about how your devices work
and develop technical skills that can be useful in various situations.

In short, troubleshooting is like a preventative maintenance routine for your devices

and systems, ensuring they remain healthy and functional for as long as possible.
FIVE STEPS OF TROUBLESHOOTING
 Preparation
 Step 1: Observation
 Step 2: Define Problem Area
 Step 3: Identify Possible Causes
 Step 4: Determine Most Probable Cause
 Step 5: Test and Repair
 Preparation:
 Familiarize yourself with safety rules & procedures for equipment
 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
 Gloves, lab coats, eye protection, etc ,
 Check PPE for defects or tears
 Replace turn or defective PPE with new PPE
 DO NOT reuse disposable equipment
 Dispose of contaminated or use PPE properly
 Blood and Bodily Fluid Safety
 Blood & bodily fluids should never touch skin, eyes or mouth
 Use disposable gloves
 Store soled items in a plastic bag
 Wash hand after removing PPE
 Electrical Safety
 Turn off power
 Ground yourself
 Use gloves when appropriate
 NOTE: Always wear PPE when Troubleshooting
PREPARATION
Gather information about the equipment and the
problem
 Understanding the design and proper operation of the
equipment
 If available, obtain service and operation manuals
 Draw out or locate schematic of device
 Obtain and review history records to check for any recurring
problems
STEP 1:OBSERVATION

Do not forget your other senses

 Smell
 Burned insulation/wiring
 Sound
 To find the problem area
 Can indicate mechanical failures
 Touch (Carefully)
 Hot areas indicate over heating
Test the operation of all of the Equipment’s
features
 Note any non-functional feature in detail
 STEP 2: DEFINE PROBLEM AREA

 Apply logic and reasoning to define the problem area

 Use observation of which parts work and which do not

 Continue to rule out parts until you are left with only faulty parts that could
cause the symptoms you observe
 STEP 3: IDENTIFY POSSIBLE CAUSES
 Identify all possible causes of the malfunction
 Typically, very component in the problem area
 Use your initial observation

 Write down every possibility, no matter how remote

 In step four, these will be ranked by probability of occurrence
STEP 4: DETERMINE MOST PROBABLE CAUSE
 It not very likely for two components to fail at the same time

 Start by looking for one faulty component as the culprit

 Keep in mind, while improbable , it is still possible to have multiple
problems
 STEP 5: TEST AND REPAIR
 Taking meter readings
 Always predict what the value should be before measuring
 Use circuit schematic to determine normal meter reading
 Any variation in reading indicates the part of the circuit is being
affected by the fault.
 The problem area can include a large area of the circuit
 Use a ‘divide and eliminate’ testing approach to eliminate larger
sections of the circuit.
 STEP 5: TEST AND REPAIR
 Once the causes is determined, replace the
defective component
 After replacing the component
 Test all features of the circuit/device
 Make sure proper component was replaced
 Ensure no other faults in the circuit/device
MOST COMMON TYPES OF
FAILURE
1. Installation/Training
• Devices that were never installed, user error, user training or working but not service.
2. Plumbing
• Valves, tubes, leaks, sponges, filters, flow adjustment and inflating bulbs and bladders,
descaling.
3. Electrical
• Patient ESU plates, contacts, light bulbs, switches, cables, temperature meters,
relays, simple wiring, wall outlets.
4. Mechanical
• Screws or adjustment, mechanical lamp adjustment, lubrication, rusted parts, cases,
boxes and enclosures
5. Power Supply
• Circuit breakers, fuses wall plugs, transformers, batteries, battery chargers, battery
backup, power resistors, power regulators.
COMMON COMPUTER PROBLEM:
HOW TO TELL IF THEY ‘RE
HARDWARE OR SOFTWARE
When Hardware Starts to Fail... Several symptoms strongly suggest a software problem. These
Here are some common components that can fail and the problems their failures include: -
may cause: • Unexpected crashes or freezes: If your computer, application, or
• Hard Drive: If your hard drive starts failing, files on your hard drive may operating system suddenly stops working without warning, this
become corrupted. You may see long delays when you attempt to access files is a common sign of a software glitch, a corrupted file, or a
or save to the hard drive. Windows may stop booting entirely. conflict between programs..
• CPU: A failing CPU may result in your computer not booting at all. If the • Sluggish performance: Slowdowns, lag, or general
CPU is overheating, your computer may blue-screen when it's under load -- unresponsiveness can indicate software issues such as malware,
for example, when you're playing a demanding game or encoding video.
too many running programs, or a full hard drive. However,
• RAM: Applications write data to your RAM and use it for short-term aging hardware (like a slow CPU or insufficient RAM) can also
storage. If your RAM starts failing, an application may write data to part of cause this, so further investigation is needed.
the RAM, then later read it back and get an incorrect value. This can result in
application crashes, blue screens, and file corruption. • Error messages: Specific error messages often point to software
• Graphics Card: Graphics card problems may result in graphical errors
problems. These messages may contain clues about the nature of
while rendering 3D content or even just while displaying your desktop. If the the issue, such as a corrupted file or an incompatible program.
graphics card is overheating, it may crash your graphics driver or cause your • Inconsistent behavior: If a program or system behaves erratically,
computer to freeze while under load -- for example, when playing
demanding 3D games. sometimes working correctly and other times malfunctioning,
this points to a software problem, perhaps due to a bug or
• Fans: If any of the fans fail in your computer, components may overheat and corrupted data.
you may see the above CPU or graphics card problems. Your computer may
also shut itself down abruptly so it doesn't overheat any further and damage • Unexpected pop-up ads or windows: Excessive pop-up ads or
itself. unexpected windows appearing frequently are strong indicators
• Motherboard: Motherboard problems can be extremely tough to diagnose. of malware or adware, which are software-based problems.
You may see occasional blue screens or similar problems. • Specific application malfunctions: If only one application is
• Power Supply: A malfunctioning power supply is also tough to diagnose -- malfunctioning while others work fine, the problem likely lies
it may deliver too much power to a component, damaging it and causing it to within that specific application's software .
malfunction. If the power supply dies completely, your computer won't
power on and nothing will happen when you press the power button.
ELEVEN TIPS FOR TROUBLESHOOTING
SOFTWARE
1. FREE UP RAM BY CLOSING OTHER OPEN PROGRAMS

Every piece of software uses Random Access Memory (RAM). The more software that's running on your computer,
the more RAM it uses. This can be especially problematic if you're using older machines that don't have a lot of
RAM. So if a software program refuses to load or is running slowly, the first thing to do is to close all other open
applications.

If you want to find out which open applications might be hogging your RAM, both Windows and Macintosh
operating systems (OS) have tools that display this information:

• In Windows, hit Ctrl+Alt+Delete, then choose the Start Task Manager option. From the window that appears,
click the Processes tab, then click the Memory menu item. This sorts all open processes based on the amount of
RAM they're using. You can shut down a runaway process by clicking the End Process button. Before you do
that, you may want to do a bit of research on the process to ensure that you don't accidentally stop a critical
process or program.

• In Mac OS X, use the Activity Monitor (called the Process Viewer in older versions of OS X). Access the
Activity Monitor by going to Applications > Utilities. Once you've called up the Activity Monitor, sort programs
based on RAM usage by clicking the column labeled "Real Memory."
2. RESTART THE SOFTWARE.
Software problems can stem from a conflict with other programs or
simply from difficulties the software encountered when starting up.
Shutting the program down and restarting it can sometimes resolve
these issues.
3. SHUT DOWN AND RESTART YOUR COMPUTER.
If restarting the problematic program doesn't resolve the issue, try
rebooting your computer. Once the computer has fully restarted, re-
launch the application in question and see if the problem has been
resolved.
4. USE THE INTERNET TO FIND HELP

No matter what software problems you encounter, chances are it's happened to someone else. So
there's a good chance you can find help on the Internet. Here are a few places to get started:

• Search for answers: In your search engine query, include the software program name and
version, the problem you encountered, and the circumstances under which the problem
occurred. If you received a specific error message, enter the exact error message text, along
with the name of the application.

• Check the vendor's website: Most software vendors provide some form of product help, such
as answers to frequently asked questions, product documentation, or user discussion forums.

• Check other websites: TechSoup's article Learning About Technology Online lists a number of
other websites that offer technology tutorials, articles, and discussion forums.
5. UNDO ANY RECENT HARDWARE OR SOFTWARE
CHANGES.
Changes to software and hardware can sometimes cause software problems, such as:

• Conflicts with other software: Newly installed software may conflict with other software. For
example, Symantec Norton Antivirus can conflict with competing antivirus products. So, if you
recently installed another antivirus program and Norton Antivirus no longer works correctly,
uninstalling the other antivirus product could solve your problem.

• Changes to computer settings: Undo any recent changes to your computer's settings, and try
launching the software again. For example, the Windows Control Panel includes an option to
"Set Program Access and Defaults," which allows you to disable access to certain applications.
If you accidentally disable access to a program here, the program may not run.

• Conflicts with new or improperly configured hardware, such as scanners and printers. If
you've recently connected new hardware to one of your computers, try disconnecting the
hardware and see if that corrects the software issue.
6. UNINSTALL THE SOFTWARE, THEN REINSTALL IT.

Sometimes, software problems occur because critical application files have been removed, updated, or deleted.
For example, many Windows applications use Dynamic Link Library (DLL) files to perform basic tasks. Often,
several applications will use the same DLL file. If you've recently removed one program from your computer, it's
possible you removed DLL files that another program relied on. Similarly, adding a program could add or update
DLL files. Applications that were dependent on those DLL files may become unstable or stop working entirely.

To ensure that all the necessary files are intact, you can completely uninstall the problematic software, then
reinstall it. Even if you remove a program using its built-in uninstall wizard (if it includes one), it's still a good
idea to check your hard drive's Program Files folder — usually located on the C drive — for any remnants of the
program, and delete any files or folders you find.

Before reinstalling, check to see if there's a new version of the program available. The vendor or developer might
have introduced bug fixes that address the issue you're having .
7. LOOK FOR SOFTWARE PATCHES.

Software vendors may also fix bugs by issuing patches — small

software updates that address known problems. Even if you're
using the most current version of the software, there may be a more
recent patch available for that version.
8. SCAN FOR VIRUSES AND MALWARE.

Viruses, spyware, and other forms of malicious software (or

"malware") can cause software to freeze, crash, or quit working
entirely.
If tips 1 through 8 haven't helped solve your software problem, you
may also want to scan the computer using both antivirus and anti-
malware tools to find and remove viruses and malware. Use the most
thorough scan mode available, and remember to restart your machine
if the antivirus or anti-malware programs found any threats.
9. CHECK FOR A FIREWALL CONFLICT.

Some organizations may choose to install personal firewall software on each

computer, rather than a centralized hardware or software-based firewall. Personal
firewalls can be an important line of defense against hackers and other security
threats, but they can also cause software conflicts.
Firewalls frequently display messages asking whether it should allow a program to
run or block it. Therefore, it's possible to accidentally tell the personal firewall to
block a program from running. Check the firewall's settings to see if the
problematic software was added to the firewall's list of programs to block. If so,
change the firewall's settings to allow the software to run, then check to see if you're
still having issues with your software.
10. BOOT UP IN SAFE MODE.

Some software malfunctions can be caused by OS settings or other system problems. Windows
and Mac operating systems both offer a troubleshooting environment known as Safe Mode.
Safe Mode disables non-critical applications and processes, which theoretically makes it easier
to isolate problems.

Most Windows computers allow you to enter Safe Mode by pressing the F8 key as your
computer is booting up. On a Mac, enter Safe Mode by pressing the Shift key while your
computer boots up (or immediately after it boots up).

Once your computer is in Safe Mode, launch the problematic software and try to replicate the
problem you had while your computer was in normal mode. If you don't have the same
problem in safe mode, there's a good chance that the issue was caused by your OS or another
program, not by the application you are troubleshooting.
11. DEFRAGMENT YOUR HARD DRIVE.

As a final troubleshooting step, you might defragment your computer's hard drive.
Defragmenting rearranges your hard drive's file structure so that the system runs more
efficiently. Defragmenting will probably be most useful if you're experiencing overall
sluggishness on your computer, because defragmenting is meant to make your entire system run
faster. Note that defragmenting a hard drive applies primarily to Windows-based computers.

Most recent Windows editions — including XP, Vista, and Windows 7 — include a built-in
disk-defragmentation tool. To launch it, go to Start > All Programs > Accessories > System
Tools > Disk Defragmenter. Be aware that defragmenting a hard drive can be time-consuming,
so make sure to perform this task when you will be away from your computer for a few hours.