Basic
PC
Troubleshooting
Table of Contents
3. Understanding Network Drives and their Uses
5. Glossary
3. Understanding Network Drives and their Uses
5. Glossary
Errors commonly associated with printing can be classified into two categories, one, errors in the printer drivers or settings on a local machine; and two, errors involving the printer itself.
If you have access (due to security on the local machine, you may not have access) go to the [start] button, choose the [settings] tab, and select [printers and faxes]. You will see a screen that looks something like this:
Notice a few items from the screenshot.
A. You can click “add a printer” to get to the wizard that will help you make a new printer available to your local machine. See you system administrator for help with this.
B. Printers that are already available to you are listed in this area. You can double click (left mouse button) on a specific printer to open a box that will tell you what documents are printing on that printer.
This will allow you do delete unnecessary documents before they are printed. If your printer is not working, you might want to try “purging” (deleting all of the documents) and re-sending the documents to the printer.
C. Your default printer is marked with a check mark. If you want to set another printer as your default printer, you can right click and select “set as default printer” from the pop-up menu.
If you encounter errors regarding incorrect or corrupted print drivers, please see your system administrator.
The other error commonly encounter with printer is an error involving the printer itself. If a printer seems to be stuck or has some sort of message on its display such as “paper jam”, then the printer needs to be opened and cleared. Open the access panels and gently remove any stuck or jammed paper. Be careful not to rip the paper and leave pieces stuck inside the machine, these small jams can be very hard to remove. Also, try turning the printer off and then back on. A printer reboot often clears memory errors and will get the printer working again.
Windows errors come in many different types and varieties. They are too numerous and varied to cover in this type of document; however, it’s important that users know how to handle some of the more common errors.
“Not Responding” errors: any sort of pop-up that refers to a program or application that is “not responding” will usually include a button to close the offending program. It is not possible to save or recover unsaved data from a program that is “not responding! Any information added since the last time the data was saved is lost. Once the locked program has been closed, it is highly recommended that the user reboot the machine.
“The Dreaded Blue Screen of Death”: in the event of a serious error, windows will show a blue screen with white lettering that describes some serious error. Possible text can include “physical memory dump” or “invalid memory location” in addition to many other error messages. The user has no choice but to reboot the machine. It is also not possible to save or recover any data once the “blue screen of death” appears.
There are many possible Windows errors. This document is not intended to list them all. However, an observant reader will notice a common theme: most Windows errors do not allow data recovery. The best defense is to save your data early and save often.
SAVE EARLY!
SAVE OFTEN!
If you double click on the “My Computer” icon on the Windows desktop, you will get a screen that looks something like this:
There are four different types of devices listed above. A device in this case indicates some sort of storage device (like a hard drive or a floppy drive).
If you look above, both “Files Stored on this Computer” and “Hard Disk Drives” indicate a link to programs, files, and data stored on this particular machine. These things (programs, data, etc.) will only be available to someone using this particular machine. If this data is needed on another computer it will need to be transferred somehow, either by using “removable storage” or by transferring the data over the network.
“Devices with Removable Storage” indicate some sort of removable disk, like a 3.5 inch floppy disk or a CD. This data is available as long as the disk is available. If data needs to be moved from one computer to another, one option is to copy the data to a disk of some type and then carry that disk to the new machine.
“Network Drives” are hard drives that are connected to some other machine on the local network. They can be made available to other machines through some sort of network protocol. If a network drive is listed on the above screen, it means you (the user) have access to it; however, you may still need to enter a username and/or a password to get full access to the drive. In the above screenshot, you can see that one of the network drives is listed as a “disconnected network drive”. This drive is available, but a password must be entered for the user to gain full access.
Users who are comfortable with network drives recognize the inherent advantages of storing data remotely. First, network drives are available from any computer on the network, so data can be accessed in the library during a planning period and then later in the teachers room during a class period. Second, network drives are “backed up” on a regular basis. This means that the data is saved in some form, usually a giant cassette tape. If the data is somehow lost, it can be restored from the backup tape. What this means to you, the user, is that network drives are the preferable place for storing critical data. If it is something that you can’t live without, store it on your network drive.
“Other” types of storage devices, as shown in the screenshot above, can be many different things. They might be some sort of digital camera with pictures stored in memory, or a PDA, or any number of other things. This data is only available if the object that holds it (like a digital camera) is attached to the local machine. The data is usually moved from the object to the local machine before it is used. For instance, a person might download the pictures from their digital camera to their hard drive. Then they might use these pictures to make a PowerPoint slideshow.
Networking errors can be as many and varied as the Windows errors discussed above. Many networking errors require the service of a qualified network technician (your system administrator). However, there are a few simple errors and troubleshooting tips that the user can try before calling the system administrator for help.
First, look in the bottom right corner of your screen.
If you see a warning like the one above, then you need to check to see that your Ethernet cable is firmly plugged into the wall socket and the back of the computer. Gently wiggle both connections and push them firmly into the receptacles to ensure that they are connected.
An Ethernet cable will have copper connectors on one side and a clip on the other side. Make sure that the cable is in the socket correctly. See below for a picture of an Ethernet cable.
Notice that the Ethernet cable looks like a large phone cable. They are not interchangeable! Ethernet cable can be forced into telephone outlets, but they will not work! Make sure that your Ethernet cable is plugged into a correct network outlet and that your system administrator has enabled that particular outlet.
Below are two pictures of Ethernet outlets. These are from the Intermediate High School.
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The Ethernet outlet on the left will not work! These are Ethernet outlets left over from earlier network implementations; they will not work. They can usually be found in the front-center of a classroom underneath the chalkboards.
The outlet on the right is the current standard for network outlets in the Seneca Valley School District. Notice that each network outlet is labeled with a number, in this case they are numbers 1451, 1452, and 1453. Your network administrator will need these numbers to help you troubleshoot your Ethernet problems. Notice that all of the outlets say “908-1”, this is not an outlet number and will not help your system administrator.
Sometimes, especially in the recently renovated areas, your Ethernet outlets may be next to a telephone jack. Phone jacks are usually labeled “phone” and should not have Ethernet cables inserted into the outlet.
More advanced Ethernet problems can be handled by your system administrator. Please contact them if you are unsure of the proper outlet or if you experience connection problems.
Double Click – to click twice in rapid succession with the left mouse button, on Windows machines this is the commonly used method for opening documents and starting programs
Driver – a piece of software that interprets commands from the local machine to other devices. For instance, a printer driver is needed to interpret the print instructions coming from the local machine to a printer
Ethernet Cable – a cable that looks amazingly like a large telephone cable, it is used to connect a computer to a LAN and/or a WAN
Floppy Drive – a drive with a removable storage device, these include the small, hard, plastic 3.5 inch drives as well as CD-ROM drives and DVD drives
Hard Drive – a non-removable drive that stores large amounts of data, hard drives are located inside the computer and are usually only removed by experienced service technicians
Left Click – to click once with the left mouse button
Local Machine – the computer directly in front of you, the machine that sits on your desktop or the machine in the computer lab that is directly in front of you, see also server
Local Area Network (LAN) – a collection of computer that are linked to allow sharing of data and other software, usually restricted to the computers inside one area (Like the Intermediate High School, or the Middle School, or the Senior High School), see also WAN
Network Drive – a drive that is located on a server somewhere physically removed from the user
Network Protocol – software and drivers that enable one computer to talk to another and share data and software
Reboot – to restart a computer, on a Windows machine the preferred method is to go to [start], click [shut down], and select [restart]
Right Click – to click with the right mouse button, used in Windows to bring up many useful pop-up menus
Server – a machine that regulates and administers a LAN and/or WAN, a server is usually in some remote location, it may or may not have a number of network drives attached to it for use by the computers that it administers
System Administrator – see system operator
System Operator – also called a sysop or sysadmin, the system operator is the person responsible for keeping a LAN and/or WAN working correctly, they troubleshoot computers, printers, and other devices attached to a network, they are also responsible for administering access to the network (security)
Wide Area Network (WAN) – a large network, usually one that covers a broad geographic area, the World Wide Web (the Internet) is an example of a large WAN, Seneca Valley School District is an example of a small WAN
Wizard – a piece of software designed to help computer users perform complex actions by automating some of the choices and decisions, Windows provides a number of Wizard to help with things like installing a printer or connection to a network.
