Today I got a rude phone call from someone wanting free computer help. Let me express again that I do not appreciate these types of calls. I have a business to run. I do writing, design, and layout work. I don’t take apart computers for a living.
So when people call demanding answers to general questions like, "my computer turns off and I don’t know why" my response is to tell the person to take the machine to a computer store. Those guys get paid to figure that stuff out for a reason. They have the patience for it; I don’t.
If you e-mail me with a question, however, I will attempt to help if I have time. The bad news is that many types of general computer problems require actually sitting in front of the computer and pounding at it. "My computer turns off and I don’t know why" is one of them. A computer could turn off randomly for many different reasons including, but not limited to:
* Loose power cables
* A dying power supply.
* Cooling fan problem causing the machine to overheat.
* A virus
* A dying CMOS battery.
* Incompatible hardware, such as a bad video card or memory.
* A problem with a particular piece of software.
General questions can sometimes be narrowed down if you can replicate the problem (i.e. cause it to happen again by going through the same series of events).
If, for example, every time you open Word, the computer crashes, the problem is likely to be Word, not the computer. So when you talk to the guys at the computer store, do everybody a favor and make sure you have done all you can to give them the information they need to help you.