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- Troubleshooting Windows XP
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- Collect documentation about your systems to aid in troubleshooting and
preventing problems
- Review common-sense approaches to troubleshooting
- Troubleshoot general problems with Windows XP Professional
- Use some of the troubleshooting tools found in Windows XP Professional
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- Troubleshooting is the art and science of systematically diagnosing and
eliminating problems in a computer system
- Collect information
- Use common-sense troubleshooting guidelines
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- The first rule of troubleshooting:
- You can never have too much information
- Computer Information File (CIF)
- Provides detailed information about the hardware and software products
that comprise your computer (and even your network)
- An ever-expanding accumulation of data sheets sorted into related
groupings
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- You CIF should also include nonphysical characteristics of your system
- Essential that contents of the CIF be complete and up-to-date
- It is recommended that you maintain both a printed/written version and
an electronic version of your CIF
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- Be patient
- Be familiar with your system’s hardware and software
- Attempt to isolate the problem
- Divide and conquer (nonessential devices)
- Eliminate suspects
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- Undo the most recent change
- Investigate common points of failure
- Recheck items that caused problems before
- Try the easy and quick fix first
- Let the fault guide you
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- Make changes one at a time
- Repeat the failure
- Keep a detailed log of errors and attempted solutions
- Learn from mistakes (your own and others’)
- Experiment
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- Used to view system messages regarding the failure and/or success of
various key occurrences within the Windows XP Professional environment
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- The Computer Management console is divided into three sections:
- System Tools
- Storage
- Services and Applications
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- The System Tool contains five individual tools:
- Event Viewer
- Shared Folders
- Local Users and Groups
- Performance Logs and Alerts
- Device Manager
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- The Storage section presents three tools for administering storage
devices:
- Removable Storage
- Disk Defragmenter
- Disk Management
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- The Service and Applications section contains management controls for
various installed and active services and applications
- Some common controls include:
- Services
- WMI Control
- Indexing Service
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- Windows XP Professional includes a great many troubleshooting Wizards
associated with specific system components or services
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- Media error
- Domain controller communication difficulties
- Stop message errors or halting on the blue screen
- Hardware problems
- Dependency failures
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- Problems with network printers can often bring normal activity to a halt
- They can occur anywhere between the printer’s power cable and the
application that’s attempting to print
- Systematic elimination of possible points of failure is the only
reliable method for eliminating such errors
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- Check all physical connections
- Check the communication line itself
- Verify the RAS configuration and the modem setup
- Check that both the client and server dialup configuration match
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- Verify that the user account has RAS privileges
- Inspect the RAS-related logs
- Remember that Multilink and callback do not work together
- Autodial and persistent connections may cause a computer attempt RAS
connection with each logon
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- Check to see if other clients or server or subnets are experiencing the
same problem
- Check physical network connections
- Check protocol settings
- Reboot the system
- Verify that the NIC drivers are properly installed
- Verify the domain/workgroup membership of the client
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- Windows XP Professional maintains and tunes its file system
automatically
- Most partition, boot sector, and drive configuration faults can be
corrected or recovered using the Disk Management tool in the Computer
Management utility in Administrative Tools
- The only reliable means of protecting data on storage devices is to
maintain an accurate and timely backup
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- The Master Boot Record (MBR) is the area of the hard drive that contains
the data structure for initiating the boot process
- If the MRB fails, the Emergency Repair Disk (ERD) cannot be used to
repair it
- Instead you must use a recovery tool of some kind, for which there are
several approaches:
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- Dr. Watson
- Windows XP Professional application debugger
- Detects application failures
- Logs diagnostic details
- Windows XP Professional automatically launches Dr. Watson when an
application error occurs
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- Service pack
- Collection of code replacements, patches, error corrections, new
applications, version improvements, or service-specific configuration
settings from Microsoft that corrects, replaces, or hides the
deficiencies of the original product, preceding service packs, or hot
fixes
- Hot fix
- Similar to a service pack, except it addresses only one problem, or a
small number of problems, and it may not be fully tested
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- Important points to remember about patches such as service packs and hot
fixes:
- Always make a backup or your system before applying any type of patch
- Be sure you’ve retrieved a patch for the correct CPU type and language
version
- Always read the readme and Knowledge Base Q documents for each patch
- Update your Emergency Repair Disk (ERD) both before and after applying
a patch
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- Make a complete backup of the Registry using the Registry Editor or the
REGBACK utility on the Microsoft Windows XP Professional Resource Kit
- Export the disk configuration data from Disk Administrator
- Because service packs rewrite many system-level files, you must
disconnect all current users, exit all applications, and temporarily
stop all unneeded services before installing any service pack or patch
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- To locate Microsoft Knowledge Base documents, visit or use one of these
resources:
- Web site: http://support.microsoft.com/
- TechNet CD
- Microsoft Network
- Resource Kit documentation (online help file)
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- To determine what service packs have been applied to your system, you
can use one of the following techniques:
- Enter WINVER from command prompt to view an About Windows dialog box
- Select Help, About Windows from the menu bar of any native tool such as
My Computer or Explorer
- Use the Registry Editor to view the CSDVersion value in the
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Micro-soft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion
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- The Microsoft Windows Web site:
- http://microsoft/windows/
- The Knowledge Base
- TechNet
- Resource Kits
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- There are several common-sense principles of troubleshooting you should
always follow
- Information is the most valuable troubleshooting tool
- Windows XP Professional tools most often used for troubleshooting are
Event Viewer and the Computer Management tool
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- There are five common installation problems:
- Media errors
- Domain controller communication difficulties
- Stop message errors or halts on the blue screen
- Hardware problems
- Dependency failures
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- Printer problems are most often associated with physical configuration
or spooling problems
- RAS and network problems may be caused by several types of problems, but
the most common type arises from misconfiguration
- Service packs and hot fixes are used to repair portions of Windows XP
Professional after its release
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