Category Archives: Hardware

computer hardware

Using ReadyBoost in Windows Vista/7/8

ReadyBoost is a feature available in Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 that provides improved performance to any computer by simply adding a USB flash drive. USB flash drives of any size can be used with ReadyBoost, so even … Continue reading

Posted in Computers, Hardware, maintenance, Services, Software | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Common Computer Startup Problems and Solutions

There are a variety of situations where a computer will fail to startup properly. These situations often fall into one of the categories below: No power on:  This is used to describe a laptop or desktop where the power LED … Continue reading

Posted in Computers, Hardware | 2 Comments

Disaster Planning

Disaster planning involves identifying the failure points in an entire system and then addressing those issue using fault tolerance, backup and response planning. The success of a disaster plan is determined by how quickly and effectively the system can be restored. … Continue reading

Posted in Computers, Hardware, Internet, maintenance, Outage | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

New Desktop Computers

Beginning March 2012, we’re retiring the MSI socket 775 motherboards we have been using for the past two years, and moving to the new Intel socket 1155 motherboard and processor. While socket 1155 uses the same size and type of … Continue reading

Posted in Computers, Hardware | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Repairing USB port failure

We regularly see computers with broken and failed USB ports being brought in for repair. While USB ports used to be a novelty and convenience on computers, increasingly computers require working USB ports for the keyboard and mouse. Computer manufacturers … Continue reading

Posted in Computers, Dell Computers, Hardware | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Thailand Flooding Affects Hard Drive Prices

The flooding in Thailand in October and November 2011 forced the closing of all of the hard drive assembly factories for Western Digital. Seagate does not manufacture or assemble hard drives in Thailand, but it does rely on suppliers located … Continue reading

Posted in Computers, Hardware | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Best Practices for Backup

Every computer relies on the hard disk drive inside to store programs and data. When a failure occurs and the drive cannot be used, restoring files from a backup is necessary. However, there are many approaches to backup and not … Continue reading

Posted in Computers, FAQ, Hardware, Software | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Making the best RAID choice for a server

When configuring the disk drives on a Windows or Linux server, it is preferable to use RAID (redundant array of inexpensive disks) instead of a single hard drive. However, all RAID configurations are not equal, and some are preferable. In … Continue reading

Posted in Computers, Hardware | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

FAQ: fixing keyboard failure

When a keyboard doesn’t work after start-up, re-connecting the keyboard while the computer is running won’t make the keyboard work. Instead, the computer must be turned off and restarted to detect the keyboard. While the computer is off, the keyboard … Continue reading

Posted in Computers, FAQ, Hardware | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Getting the most out of Dell warranty service

Dell computers are typically sold with either a 90-day or 1-year warranty, with the option to extend the warranty. However, once a computer malfunctions and requires service from Dell, the experience can be extremely time consuming and frustrating. Before Dell … Continue reading

Posted in Computers, Dell Computers, Hardware, Services | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment