HP Compaq Presario SR2109UK, Compaq Presario SR2125UK, Compaq Presario SR2149UK, Compaq Presario SR2150NX, Compaq Presario SR2163WM Troubleshooting and Maintenance Guide

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Troubleshooting and Maintenance Guide

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The information in this document is subject to change without notice.

Maintenance............................................................................................1

Creating Data Backup Discs .................................................................................... 1

Creating System Recovery Discs ............................................................................... 1

Removing Unused Programs.....................................................................................1

Running the Disk Cleanup Program...........................................................................2

Running Disk Cleanup manually .......................................................................... 2

Scheduling Disk Cleanup to run automatically .......................................................2

Running the Disk Defragmenter Program.................................................................... 3

Checking for Hard Disk Drive Errors ......................................................................... 4

Understanding Hard Disk Drive Space ...................................................................... 4

Recommended Maintenance Schedule ...................................................................... 5

Troubleshooting Computer Problems ........................................................7

Audio ...................................................................................................................8

CD and DVD Drives................................................................................................ 9

Video..................................................................................................................10

Display (Monitor).................................................................................................. 11

Hard Disk Drive.................................................................................................... 12

Hardware Installation............................................................................................12

Internet Access ..................................................................................................... 14

Keyboard and Mouse ...........................................................................................16

Power ................................................................................................................. 17

Performance ........................................................................................................18

Miscellaneous ......................................................................................................20

Table o f Cont e n ts iii

Repairing Software Problems ................................................................21

Software Repair Overview.....................................................................................21

Restarting Your Computer ......................................................................................22

Turning Off Your Computer.................................................................................... 22

Updating Drivers ..................................................................................................22

Microsoft System Restore ....................................................................................... 23

Software Program and Hardware Driver Reinstallation ..............................................24

System Recovery .................................................................................................. 25

Creating Recovery Discs........................................................................................ 25

Choosing Recovery Disc Media.........................................................................26

System Recovery Options ...................................................................................... 27

Running System Recovery from the Hard Disk Drive .............................................27

Starting System Recovery from the Windows Vista Start menu ............................... 27

Starting System Recovery from system startup ......................................................28

iv Troubleshooting and Maintenance Guide

This section includes information about tasks you can perform to help ensure the troublefree operation of your computer, and to ease the recovery of important information on your computer should problems arise in the future.

Creating Data Backup Discs

You can use the CD or DVD burning software included on your computer to create backup discs of important information including personal files, e-mail messages, and Web site bookmarks.

When writing data to a backup disc, you should use software that includes write verification functionality. This verification feature compares the data on your hard disk drive with the data copied to the disc to ensure it is an exact copy. Depending on your disc burning software, you may need to manually enable this feature.

Creating System Recovery Discs

Maintenance

This is a one-time step that you should perform while your computer is working properly. If you later encounter problems with your computer, you can restore it to its original factory settings using the System Recovery discs that you create.

Before creating recovery discs, read “System Recovery” on page 25, and then create the discs as described in “Creating Recovery Discs” on page 25.

Removing Unused Programs

1 Click the Windows Start Button®, and then click Control Panel. 2 Click Uninstall a program. The Programs and Features window opens. 3 Select the program you want to remove, and click Uninstall. 4 Follow the onscreen instructions.

NOTE: Some programs have their own uninstall features. If you cannot uninstall a

program from the Control Panel, refer to the program documentation or Help.

Maintenance 1

Running the Disk Cleanup Program

The Disk Cleanup program frees up space on your hard disk drive by removing temporary and unused files (including Temporary Internet Files and files in the Recycle Bin). You can run Disk Cleanup manually, or you can set it up to run automatically.

Running Disk Cleanup manually

1 Click the Windows Start Button, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools,

and then click Disk Cleanup.

Disk Cleanup searches for files to delete and calculates how much disk space can be saved.

2 Choose the files to delete by placing a check mark in the check box next to the file

types listed.

3 Click OK, and then click Delete Files to finish deleting the selected files.

Scheduling Disk Cleanup to run automatically

1 Click the Windows Start Button, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools,

and then click Task Scheduler.

2 Click Action, and then click Create Basic Task.

3 Type a name for the task and an optional description.

4 Click OK, then click OK again.

5 Select the reoccurrence, and click Next.

6 Select the time to run Disk Cleanup and click Next. Disk cleanup may take a long

time, so select a time when the computer is on but not in use.

7 Select Start a program and click Next.

8 Under Program/Script, click Browse.

9 Type cleanmgr.exe and click Open.

10 Review the summary of the schedule you have set. When done, click Finish. Disk

Cleanup runs at the time you have set.

2 Troubleshooting and Maintenance Guide

Running the Disk Defragmenter Program

When Microsoft® Windows Vista™ stores files on your hard disk drive, it often divides them into multiple pieces (or fragments) so they fit into available space on the drive. When you attempt to open a fragmented file, it must be retrieved from more than one place, so the process takes more time.

The Disk Defragmenter program groups the fragmented files together on your hard disk drive to improve computer performance. This does not affect the location of files and folders on your computer.

NOTE: The Disk Defragmenter program may take a long time to complete. You can run it unattended overnight.

1 Save your work and close all open programs.

2 Press the Ctrl key, the Alt key, and the Delete key at the same time.

3 Click Start Task Manager.

4 On the Applications tab, select all the programs that are listed, and then click End

Task. Close the Task Manager.

5 Click the Windows Start Button, choose All Programs, Accessories, System

Tools, and then click Disk Defragmenter.

6 Click Defragment Now.

If Disk Defragmenter repeatedly starts, a hidden background program is still accessing the hard disk drive. Restart the computer in Safe Mode and run the Disk Defragmenter program again:

1 Click the Windows Start Button, click the arrow next to the

Lock button, and then click Restart.

2 Press the F8 key as soon as the first logo screen appears.

3 On the Windows Advanced Options menu, use the arrow keys to select Safe Mode

and press the Enter key.

4 Press the Enter key again to select the operating system.

5 Log on to Windows Vista. When the Desktop message appears, click Yes to continue

in Safe Mode.

6 After Windows Vista starts, use the previous procedure to run the Disk Defragmenter

program.

Maintenance 3

Checking for Hard Disk Drive Errors

Perform the following procedure to check the integrity of the hard disk drive in Windows Vista. Close all open programs before beginning the disk check.

1 Click the Windows Start Button, and then click Computer.

2 In the window that opens, right-click the hard disk drive that you want to check, and

click Properties.

3 In the Properties window, click the Tools tab.

4 Under Error-checking, click Check Now.

5 If desired, click the check box next to Automatically fix file system errors and

Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors.

6 Click Start. If prompted to restart, click Yes to restart the computer.

Understanding Hard Disk Drive Space

Hewlett-Packard and Compaq computers with the Windows Vista operating system preinstalled may appear to have a hard disk drive smaller than what is stated in the product specifications, in the documentation, or on the box. Hard disk drives are described and advertised by manufacturers in terms of decimal (base 10) capacity. Windows Vista and other programs, such as FDISK, use the binary (base 2) numbering system.

In decimal notation, one megabyte (MB) is equal to 1,000,000 bytes, and one gigabyte (GB) is equal to 1,000,000,000 bytes. In the binary numbering system, one megabyte is equal to 1,048,576 bytes, and one gigabyte is equal to 1,073,741,824 bytes. Because of the different measuring systems, you may see a difference between the size reported by Windows Vista and the size advertised. The storage capacity of the hard disk drive is as advertised.

Windows Vista reports smaller capacity in the Windows Explorer tool and in the Computer window because it shows information about one partition on the hard disk drive at a time. The first partition contains the System Recovery information.

4 Troubleshooting and Maintenance Guide

Recommended Maintenance Schedule

Daily Weekly Monthly Quarterly (seasonally)

Manage e-mail

 Delete e-mail from

unknown sources.

 Do not open

untrusted attachments.

 Organize e-mail.

Protect against viruses, adware, and spyware

 Update definition

files or schedule a weekly automatic update.

 Run a full virus,

adware, and spyware scan or schedule a weekly automatic scan.

Optimize performance

 Run Disk Cleanup.

(See “Running the Disk Cleanup Program” on page 2.)

 Run Disk

Defragmenter. (See “Running the Disk Defragmenter Program” on page 3.)

 Check for disk

errors. (See “Checking for Hard Disk Drive Errors” on page 4.)

Use Windows Update

 Check for updates

or schedule a monthly automatic update. (See the Getting Started Guide for details.)

Review the Start menu

 Set to open only

needed applications:

1 Click the Windows

Start Button, All Programs, then click Windows Defender.

2 Click Tools.

3 Click Software

Explorer.

4 In the Category list,

select Startup Programs.

5 Select the program

that you want to prevent from running and click Disable.

Set new passwords

(See the Getting Started Guide for details.)

Clean the computer, monitor, keyboard, and mouse

 For detailed cleaning

instructions, go to:

http://

www.hp.com/ support

Select your country/ region and language, search on your computer model number, and then search on the keyword cleaning.

Maintenance 5

Recommended Maintenance Schedule (continued)

Daily Weekly Monthly Quarterly (seasonally)

Clean up Web browser files

 Delete cookies.

 Delete cache.

 Delete history files.

Empty the Recycle Bin

 This, and other

cleanup tasks, can be performed with the Disk Cleanup program. (See “Running the Disk Cleanup Program” on page 2.)

Back up important files to CD or DVD

(See “Creating Data Backup Discs” on page 1.)

Clean up the desktop

 Delete or uninstall

unneeded icons and applications. (See “Removing Unused Programs” on page 1.)

Maintain overall condition

 Check cleanliness.

 Make sure

ventilation is unobstructed.

 Secure all

connections and cabling.

Create a Restore Point

(See “Microsoft System Restore” on page 23.)

6 Troubleshooting and Maintenance Guide

Troubleshooting Computer Problems

This section contains a series of tables that describe possible solutions to problems that may occur when using your computer. Each table contains:

 Symptoms that describe the sign or warning message for the type of problem.

 Possible solutions that describe what you should do to try to solve the problem.

The troubleshooting tables appear in the following order:

 Audio

 CD and DVD Drives

 Video

 Display (Monitor)

 Hard Disk Drive

 Hardware Installation

 Internet Access

 Keyboard and Mouse

 Power

 Performance

 Miscellaneous

For additional information about monitor problems, or for problems relating specifically to your printer, refer to the documentation provided by the product’s manufacturer.

Troubleshooting Computer Problems 7

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