STFU && RTFM

Hardware errors come in many shapes and sizes. Some are innocuous, others more serious. Not all of them are easily detected. Over the course of the last three years, I have seen one, which displays any of the following symptoms:
 

• Computer crashes unexpectedly
• Software crashes unexpectedly
• Unstable network connection

 
The list goes on and on. Simply put, the symptoms are numerous, and varied. That doesn’t really matter though, as the way we can ascertain this error is by using the logging function in the operating system. Here’s how:
 

1. Right-click My computer and select Manage
2. Under System Tools, find Event Viewer
3. In the Event Viewer, find the Application Log
4. Look for repeated instances of a warning for Event 1202 SceCli and error for Event 1085 Userenv, like so:
   

 
Once you’ve found the error, you need to call your hardware vendor and tell them to replace the motherboard. Since I first found the error, I have solved more than 20 issues of the kind with a motherboard swap. This is covered by warranty, as long as the warranty is still valid.

Over a year ago, I wrote about uncovering model-specific errors. True to form, all of the models I have seen lately have had some sort of standardized error.

The MSI MediaLive has a serious heating issue, killing just about any machine due to over-heating. This might be remedied by putting better fans in there, but I somehow doubt it.

Fujitsu Siemens’ P7230-series seem to have a standard error in the monitors, making them display colors that rightfully belongs in an acid-induced haze.

Fujitsu Siemens’ S7210-series have dodgy motherboards, causing them to work ever so slowly, whereas the S7110 has a batch of monitors whose backlight die.

Lastly, Fujitsu Siemens’ models S7210 and S7220 both have a problem with the onboard NIC, which causes the computers to go on- and offline all of the time.

Most models of computer have one or two errors that you classically begin to see within about a year of their release. Be it motherboard issues, harddrive failures or simply keyboard malfunction, they all have them. The problem is that for each new model, there’s a new standard error. Some are shared across a range of similar models, whereas some are specific to a batch of computers.
 
These errors are something that you learn to live with; you learn to roll with the punches as it were, and to diagnose them. The problem here, is of course that what you see (the symptoms) isn’t always what you’ve got.
 
An example of this is HP’s nc6220 series computers, that presents itself with a Non-System Disk or Disk Error, leading users and supporters alike to assume that the harddrive is dead. Of course, this is partly because a previous model, the nc6000, had a large batch of bad drives that would kick the bucket after about a year or so.
 
With the nc6220, the error is not, however, in the harddrive, but on the motherboard, more specifically located in the harddrive controller. Other symptoms include slow boot, slow or no access to BIOS and inability to boot from a CD. The ultimate test is, of course, to put the harddrive into a different computer, and test it. If it boots, you know.
 
With IBM and Lenovo’s T4x-range of computers, the classic problem is a different one, but none the less annoying. Here, too, the motherboard calls it a day (or life if you will), but the symptoms are no output to both the on-board and any external monitors that might be connected.
 
Personally, I prefer motherboard failures, because, although annoying and time-consuming, the user does not end up losing data, which they would with a harddrive failure.