Basic Diagnostics Manual
Contents
Hardware
Hard Drive
Predictable hard drive failure is usually caused by normal wear on the mechanical parts of the drive.
Unpredictable hard drive failure can be caused by misuse, defective parts, or immediate mechanical failure.
Gradual wear causes most mechanical failures. The most common symptoms of a failing hard drive are:
- Increased heat output
- Increased noise level
- Problems with reading or writing data
S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) scans
SMART scans are a quick way to tell if a hard drive is failing, although not all failing drives fail SMART tests. There is no standard requirement for SMART support, so not all disks will test all or even most of the tests available.
You can test most hard drive formats via Ubuntu's built in SMART scan (in Disk Utility).
Common SMART signs of HDD failure:
- Read error rate
- Reallocated sector counts
- Spin retry count
- Command timeout
- Reallocation event count
- Current pending sector count
- Uncorrectable sectory count
- Drive life protection status
Logic/Motherboard
- Unexplained crashes
- Corrupt graphics
- Display failures
- Power button doesn't always work
- Ports don't always work
- Unexplained noises
Things to try:
- Reset PRAM (Parameter Random Access Memory)
- Reset PMU (Power Management Unit)
- Reseat the RAM
Optical Drive
- Not ejecting
- Not mounting
- Not playing/reading
- Making strange noises
Other
RAM failure
Beeps when trying to powering on
Software
Many software issues can also be caused by hardware malfunctions.
Common Software issues:
- Long load times
- Long quit times
- Program crashes regularly
Standard Mac/Windows/Linux
how to install/reinstall
how/where to backup
how to take apart
where to find guides
program lists
- what it does
- when to use
- how to use
where to find additional help
common problems
water spill
viruses
