{"id":32579,"date":"2012-05-31T21:42:21","date_gmt":"2012-05-31T21:42:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/?p=32579"},"modified":"2012-05-31T21:42:21","modified_gmt":"2012-05-31T21:42:21","slug":"bob-rankin-how-to-test-and-fix-your-computer-hardware","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/bob-rankin-how-to-test-and-fix-your-computer-hardware\/","title":{"rendered":"Bob Rankin: How to Test and Fix Your Computer Hardware"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/askbobrankin.com\/hardware-testing.jpg\" alt=\"How to Test and Fix Your Computer Hardware\" title=\"How to Test and Fix Your Computer Hardware\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-32443\" \/><\/p>\n<p>By Bob Rankin<\/p>\n<h3>How to Test and Fix Your Computer Hardware<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Testing Your Hardware<\/strong><br \/>\nComputer problems that happen on a repeatable basis are usually pretty easy to diagnose and fix. For example, you try to run a certain program and it locks up your computer every time. Uninstalling, reinstalling or upgdating a program may solve the problem. A malware scan may find and remove a virus. But when problems pop up randomly, or they don&#8217;t happen every time, you need to do some detective work to find the cause.<\/p>\n<p>In this article, I&#8217;ll introduce you to a virtual toolbox of useful diagnostic utilities that you can use to test your hardware, detect problems and possibly even prevent a future problem from happening.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Monitoring System Temperature and Voltage<\/strong><br \/>\nI often say that heat is the enemy of electronics. And just like an automobile engine, excessive heat in your computer&#8217;s components can cause them to malfunction, seize up, or become damaged. As I&#8217;ve discussed in my article Is Your CPU Overheating?, some of the symptoms of overheating include sluggish performance, software crashes, as well as random reboots and restarts.<\/p>\n<h3><b><a href=\"http:\/\/askbobrankin.com\/how_to_test_and_fix_your_computer_hardware.html?pcp\"_blank\">Article continued here:<\/a><\/b><\/h3>\n<p>This excerpt is shared with permission from Bob Rankin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/askbobrankin.com\/hardware-testing.jpg\" alt=\"How to Test and Fix Your Computer Hardware\" title=\"How to Test and Fix Your Computer Hardware\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-32443\" \/><\/p>\n<p>If your computer is acting strangely, and you&#8217;ve already ruled out a virus, it might be gremlins. But more likely, a software error is being caused by a hardware component that&#8217;s flaky, damaged, or overheated. Here are some tips and tools to help you diagnose and fix those annoying or intermittent computer problems that just seem to pop up for no apparent reason&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":66012,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[4127,4129,4128,4130],"class_list":["post-32579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bob-rankin","tag-computer-hardware-testing","tag-computer-hardware-troubleshooting","tag-pc-hardware-testing","tag-pc-hardware-troubleshooting"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How to Test and Fix Your Computer Hardware<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If your computer is acting strangely, and you&#039;ve already ruled out a virus, it might be gremlins. 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