No doubt you have seen and had a laugh at stories by Help Desk operators. The user who thought the CD drive was to hold his coffee cup, and other amusing tales.

I don't know if this is an urban myth or not, but in my experience of tech support and helpdesk operations, users are mostly intelligent, but maybe not used to taking a logical approach to problems.

A user of a PC can be anyone from a design engineer to a receptionist. They specialise in designing or greeting visitors, they expect their computer to do what it is supposed to do, every day, without fail, just like their car, and so they should!

When the computer doesn't start, what should you do? The best approach, if at all possible, is to compare the 'dead' machine to a working one! See further down the page.

In an office setting this is usually possible, but not so easy at home. We look at a Desktop PC here, laptops or notebooks are a little different.

Before we start let's clarify what a computer or monitor is. When I refer to the computer I mean the box that holds all the workings, it usually has several cables attached to it and has drawers to insert CDs or DVDs maybe floppy drives and USB connectors - the main box. This is not the 'Hard Drive' as some refer to it. The hard drive is contained in the computer box. The Monitor is the thing you look at, also called a 'Screen' or 'Display'.

Computer 'not working' or 'won't start' First thing to check is power. Are there any lights on the front or rear of the computer? How about the monitor? or the keyboard?

No lights or noises from the computer or monitor? A very common problem is the power cable connection. Maybe the cleaner (or your Mom or wife) plugged in the vacuum cleaner, and forgot to replace it. Is it plugged in securely - at both ends? Yes you may have to get in among that tangle of cables behind your desk! Be sure you are checking the correct cable! Is the wall outlet switched on? Does another device, for example a lamp, work in that outlett? Make sure you plug the power cable to the computer into an outlet you have just tested! Check the power switch, there is probably a main switch at the rear of the box near the power cable connector, as well as a push button on the front to start the computer. If this sounds like nit-picking, maybe you would like to give me a dollar for all the times I've found this very problem. I could get a very nice meal in a fancy restaurant on the proceeds! This fixes an estimated 80% of 'not working' problems!

If you now have a light somewhere on the computer, or a noise like a fan, we are making progress. Check the monitor, there should be a light on this too, normally green or yellow. Green means it is getting something from the computer. Yellow means it is powered on but not getting data. We need to do the same check with the power cable for the monitor, to make sure we have a light on, also is it switched on? The switch may be at the rear. Sometimes the monitor cable is connected to the main computer power supply from an outlet next to the computer's power cable. If this is the case try connecting it directly to a wall outlet.

If there is a yellow light on the monitor check the data (vga) cable from the monitor. This is the other cable, that is not the power cable. It should be connected by a small 15 pin plug to the computer usually to a blue colored connector. There may be two such connectors (for the technical, one on the motherboard, one on the video card), if you're not sure which one, try them both, it will only connect to the correct type of connector. The data cable may be permanently connected to the monitor, or it may have the same 15-pin connector as the computer end. Make sure it is connected. Another 15% of 'not working' problems are fixed right here - maybe a Big Mac for this one!

Still not getting anywhere? If at all possible swap your monitor with a colleague's on the next desk, which one works now? This same principle can be applied to other problems. Another common one is 'my computer wont read my cd'. Try another CD, try your cd in a colleague's computer, try a cd that works in his computer in yours. This will tell you if you have a bad cd or a bad drive or driver.

If you only have one computer at home, you can't swap withe the next desk, but maybe you can try your monitor on a notebook, or on a friend's computer?

What about the other 5% of problems? The BSOD, the corrupted hard drive, etc. etc., well that's a story for another day, as they say!

Tony is an experienced computer engineer. He is currently webmaster and contributor to http://www.what-why-wisdom.com.