ICAS4022B Determine and action client computing problems

This unit will present a series of troubleshooting and fault finding methods to help you enhance your chance of success when trying to fix computer problems. Technicians in the workplace are expected to rectify faults quickly, or provide a workaround or solution. You will learn to create a list of possible causes for faults, organise in order of likelihood of each cause and formulate a solution or rectification.

Outcomes for this unit are:

• Create a list of probable causes
• Organise in order of likelihood of each cause
• Formulate a solution or rectification

Activity 1: Web Search – Boot Faults

In this activity you will need to identify the purpose of the boot.ini file in Windows based systems. Note that Windows 95/98/Me do not have a boot.ini file.

Direct your web browser to Microsoft’s web site – http://www.microsoft.com/, and do a search to find out the purpose of the boot.ini file in a Windows based system.

Q: What is the purpose of the/MAXMEM switch when used within the boot.ini file?

A: The boot.ini file has the purpose of indicating to the bootloader program where to boot the system from. The boot.ini will have entries pointing to a partition or partitions that might be used to boot the operating system from. If the system has more that one operating system loaded (i.e. dual boot system), the boot.ini file will reflect this and will be responsible for providing a menu at boot; the user may then choose a given operating system. The following is a sample boot.ini file taken from a Windows XP system:

[boot loader]
timeout=1
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS=‘Microsoft Windows XP Professional’/fastdetect/NoExecute=OptIn

The purpose of the/MAXMEM switch when used in a boot.ini file is to limit the amount of RAM that is made available to the operating system. This is helpful when troubleshooting faults associated with RAM. See the example below taken from a Windows 2000 Pro system.

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\winnt=‘Windows 2000 Professional’/fastdetect/MAXMEM=32

Activity 2: Web Search – Boot Stop Error

This activity will require troubleshooting an error occurring at a Windows system during the boot up sequence.

The following error has been reported as occurring on a Windows 2000 server:

‘STOP 0x0000002E’ or ‘DATA_BUS_ERROR’ Error Message

The error started occurring on system that was working fine until then.

Q: Search the Internet. Can you find a possible cause for this fault and potential solutions?

A: According to Microsoft’s Knowledge Base (support.microsoft.com) Article—Article ID: 218132, the problem could be caused by:

• A failed or defective hardware component, including RAM, L2 RAM cache, or video RAM
  Hardware that is misconfigured or mismatched. For example, if memory has been added recently, there may be mismatched RAM speeds.
• Incompatible hardware. For example, the speed of RAM recently added may be incompatible with another hardware component on the system, such as the L2 cache.
• An ill-behaved device driver attempting to access an address in the 0x8xxxxxxx range that does not exist (that is, does not correspond to a real physical address mapping).
• A virus has infected the Master Boot Record (MBR).
• Hard disk damage.
• The error may be resolved by disabling the following items in the computer’s CMOS settings. For instructions on disabling these features, consult your hardware documentation or contact the computer’s manufacturer:
• All caching, including the L2 cache, the BIOS cache, the internal/external caches, and the write-back cache on disk controllers
• All shadowing
• Any BIOS-enabled virus-protection feature
• If none of these actions resolve the problem, have the system motherboard examined by a professional repair and diagnostic testing facility. A crack, a scratched trace, or a defective component on the motherboard may also cause this error message.

Activity 3: Backing Up System Configuration

Backing up a system configuration is critical to safeguarding the integrity of system files, and recovering from misconfiguration and corruption.

Windows systems allow you to back up the ‘system state’.

The Windows system state data comprises:

• The Registry
• COM+ Class Registration database
• Boot files, including the system files
• Certificate Services database
• System files that are under Windows File Protection

Note: it does not matter if you don’t have access to a Windows XP system, as long as you have access to the Internet to search for solutions which will allow you to write the procedure.

Q: How would you write the procedure that would allow a backup operator to backup the system state data using a Windows XP system?

A: The following procedure would be adequate for backing the Windows System State data:

• Open Backup.
• The Backup Utility Wizard starts by default, unless it is disabled.
• Click the Advanced Mode button in the Backup Utility Wizard.
• Click the Backup tab, then in Click to select the check box for any drive, folder, or file that you want to back up, select the System State check box. This will back up the System State data along with any other data you have selected for the current backup operation.

Activity 4: Hierarchical Task Analysis

As you would have learnt earlier in this learning pack, a useful method for fault finding is HTA – Hierarchical Task Analysis. Hierarchical Task Analysis allows the technician to break down a major task or process into a series of logical steps that need to occur.

This activity requires you to develop an HTA diagram that represents the process of a user logging on to a network.

Q: Develop a diagram that shows the logical steps taht need to occur for someone successfully logging on to a network?

A: An HTA diagram that fulfils the requirements of this activity would show the following logical steps:

• Computer is turned on and connected to the Network


• User Interface is available to user


• Login Box prompt appears after user presses CTRL + ALT + DEL simultaneously


• User enters required credentials (username, password, domain/preferred server)


• Network server validates user login (credentials are accepted)


• User logged in

An actual graphical representation of this (actual HTA diagram) is shown below.

Activity 5: Cause and Effect Analysis

This is activity will require you to practise developing a Cause and Effect [fishbone] diagram.
Take the sample from the previous activity—A user that attempts to login.

Q: Assume that the user was not able to login successfully and develop a fishbone diagram that analyses the possible causes for this user not being able to login.

A: One of a possible solution for the fishbone diagram is presented below:

Key terms

Boot-up time faults: Boot-up time faults are those faults that occur during the boot-up sequence.

Cause-and-Effect Diagram: A graphic tool that helps identify, sort, and display possible causes of a problem or quality characteristic. These diagrams sometimes are knows as fishbone diagrams due to their shape.

Cause and Effect Analysis (CEA): Cause and effect is a method which allows a technician to analyse the possible causes of faults (the undesired negative effects). The Cause and Effect method is usually implemented by using Cause and Effect diagrams.

Fault Tree Analysis (FTA): Fault tree analysis is the process of analysing a fault by using a decision tree. Decision trees can be constructed in advance, for common troubleshooting tasks or they can be constructed ad-hoc for new faults.

Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA): HTA is a logical representation of a process and steps that must occur for this process to begin and finish successfully.

Master Boot Record (MBR): The sector at the beginning of a hard disk that contains bootstrap information, to begin loading an operating system.

POST: POST or Power-On-Self-Test is an initial test that a computer system executes automatically when turned on to check system integrity.

Virtual Memory: Virtual memory is the area of a hard disk drive used to fake memory (RAM). When a system runs out of physical RAM, it relies on available hard disk space to provide working storage.