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Quality In, Performance Out

Obviously, the quality of replacement parts is one factor in determining performance after the repair. When it comes to selecting replacement parts, there can be dozens or even hundreds of choices, and naturally, there are wide variations in quality and price. For example, while most computer-literate people can differentiate hard drives solely by their data-storage capacity, overall computer performance is affected by differences in hard drives such as rotation speed and whether the manufacturer uses quality components and quality production methods.

How to Spot Quality Components

How do you determine which parts are high quality? It's not necessarily a matter of selecting the most expensive components. There are many clues to help guide you in this matter. The most obvious are that the components come with some type of manual or guide, and the company supplies you with a way of contacting them for support or warranty needs. The manual might be in the form of a file on the installation CD, and the contact might be an address, a telephone number, or more likely these days just a Web site or e-mail address. You want to be able to reach customer service and tech support. Some vendors have excellent customer service and tech support, but other vendors are virtually impossible to reach. Often, you can't reach the company unless you can provide the product's serial number.

Additionally, look at the packaging and the actual components themselves. If they look cheap and shoddy, you should be wary. Moreover, if the price is so low that it seems too good to be true, then most times it is. However, that doesn't mean that real bargains aren't available. Let common sense be your guide.

Be Careful with Components

While hardware components are not extremely delicate, they aren't indestructible either, or else you wouldn't need to replace them. They are susceptible to physical and electrical damage due to mishandling and power surges. Follow these guidelines to minimize the risk of damage:

Make sure the power supply is set to the correct voltage: Here in the Philippines and in much of the rest of the world the electric utilities provide 220-240 volts AC to wall outlets. but in North America the electric utilities provide 110-120 volts AC to wall outlets. Check the power supply at the back of the computer. Most have switches labeled 120/240. Make sure the voltage setting matches the actual voltage, or you could face catastrophic results.

Use surge suppressors and UPSs whenever possible: Power surges and undervoltages can damage or even destroy components.

Don't force components: Connectors should be pushed in directly, not at an angle, and most go in only one way. Match up the pins with the holes. If you try to force a connector in the wrong way, you can bend or push in pins, damaging the connector and most likely causing the device to malfunction. In the case of a device with a permanently connected cable, which is common with monitors, damaging the connector requires that a qualified monitor technician repair the monitor.

There are different procedures for inserting expansion cards, memory chips, and CPUs, although the same "no-force" warning applies.

Prevent static damage: Discharge as much static as possible by touching a ground?any large metal object. Avoid carpet. Use anti-static floor mats, surface mats, and wrist ground straps. Make sure all circuits are wired correctly, including grounding.

Wire organizing tip: Do not use rubber bands or metal twist-ties inside a computer. Use plastic wire ties and snip off the ends to avoid scratching your hands and arms.

Document all changes: Keep a record of every change you make; you might have to undo certain changes. Mark all jumper and wire positions, before changing them, with a fine-tipped permanent marker. Make notes and diagrams of wire and jumper positions, and keep a record of all software configuration changes.

Here?s a review of the major Windows XP versions (roughly in order of increasing power),
which we?ll compare with Vista?s versions:

1. Windows XP Starter Edition (less-developed countries only)
2. Windows XP Home Edition N (European Union only)
3. Windows XP Home Edition
4. Windows XP Media Center Edition
5. Windows XP Tablet Edition
6. Windows XP Professional Edition N (European Union only)
7. Windows XP Professional Edition
8. Windows XP Professional x64 Edition

You may not have heard much about Windows XP Starter Edition because it was only preinstalled on PC's in emerging countries to offer a lower price point. The N editions (which do not include Windows Media Player) were sold only in Europe to satisfy antitrust requirements there. All Windows XP product versions, except Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, were available only in 32-bit versions.

All versions of Windows Vista, except Vista Starter, come in 32-bit and 64-bit versions. If we ignore for a moment the differences between 32-bit and 64-bit processing, the Starter edition, and the N editions, Windows Vista can be categorized into as few as five different flavors:

1. Vista Home Basic
2. Vista Home Premium
3. Vista Business
4. Vista Enterprise
5. Vista Ultimate

If you?re trying to decide which version of Windows Vista to buy for the first time, simply step through the following Q and A:

1. Will your PCs need to log on to an in-house network server?

a. If not, and your PCs will only need (at most) to access each other?s files and printers via peer-to-peer networking, you only need a Home version of Vista. Go to Question 2.
b. If your PC's need to log on to a network domain, you need a non-Home version. Go to Question 3.

2. (To determine which Home version): Do you have a tablet PC, do you want to burn DVDs, or do you want to record and playback video content with Windows Media Center?

a. If not, you can get by with Vista Home Edition.
b. If you need any of the above features, you need Vista Home Premium.
3. (To determine which non-Home version): Does your company have a Volume Licensing deal with Microsoft?

a. If yes, get Vista Enterprise, which enables you to create a centralized installation routine for Vista.
b. If not, get Vista Business, which is available at retail and has most of the features
of Vista Enterprise.

4. (To determine whether you need Vista Ultimate): Do you need some features that are found only in Home Premium and some other features that are found only in the Business or Enterprise versions of Vista?

a. If you need, for example, Windows Media Player (which is available only in Home Premium) and BitLocker drive encryption (only in Enterprise), get Vista Ultimate.
b. If you don?t need such a comprehensive mix of features, save your money
and buy a version of Vista that?s cheaper than Vista Ultimate.

If you?re buying a retail copy of Vista, and you already own a previous version of Windows, such as XP, don?t buy a full version of Vista. Find out what Microsoft?s current requirements are to qualify for an upgrade version, which is much cheaper. To successfully load an upgrade version, you usually must be installing onto a machine that has the old version installed, or you must have the old version on a CD (which you insert briefly during the installation of the new OS as proof). Microsoft can change these requirements at any time, so confirm this before whipping out your plastic.

Installing Windows Vista over a copy of XP or another, older version of the operating system poses problems that you may not want to face. I will discuss the issues you could face.

With all of the new features of Windows Vista, there?ll be a mighty temptation for you to buy a copy of the operating system in a store and immediately install it over your existing instance of Windows XP, 2000, Me, or 98.

Before you do, you should consider some of the following cautions:

Avoid Installing Vista over Another Version of Windows

I recommend that you get Windows Vista preinstalled when you?re buying a new PC. But you may be surprised to learn that we don?t recommend that you install Vista over XP or an older version of Windows. The reason is that installing Vista on top of another version of Windows may cause incompatibility problems that you might not be able to easily fix. When you buy a PC with Vista preinstalled, it?s almost certain that the components in the PC will have been selected for their compatibility and will have the latest driver software. If you install Vista to an older machine yourself, however, you may find that your printer, networking adapter, or some other vital component no longer works because the version you have of its driver is incompatible.
In general, you shouldn?t consider installing Vista over an older version of Windows unless the following conditions are true:

Even if one of the above cases is true, you may be better off burning your old data to a CD, formatting the old PC?s hard drive, and doing a clean install of Vista. This avoids the possibility that some components of the old OS will hang around to cause conflicts. If you?ve never before backed up and formatted a hard drive, however, don?t try to learn how on any PC that?s important to you.

A clean install, however, isn?t a panacea. Your old PC may not have enough memory, disk space, video performance, or CPU performance to run Vista satisfactorily. If you do decide to install Vista over an older version of Windows, at least run Microsoft?s Vista Upgrade Advisor, to see which drivers you may need to update first.

There are plenty of technical resources on the Web that discuss cyclic redundancy checks (CRCs). Most times you won't need to worry about this technobabble. That is, until one it day it suddenly appears and you think - what the hell does that mean? In simple terms, a CRC is bit of mathematics used to ensure that your data is OK when being transfered. It's a checking procedure that quickly identifies when data has been damaged. If you get this message, it means that the file being read by your PC or software is corrupted. However, it does not mean all the data is lost forever. When data is transfered, it is usually in small blocks and each block is given a CRC value. If something goes wrong with the data between the time it leaves the source and arrives at its destination, the CRC sent at the source will no longer match the one that is calculated when the data arrives - this is when the cyclic redundancy check error will appear.

Less frequent causes are the result of system crashes, and buggy software (hello Microsoft), incomplete downloads (often identified by the misleading message 'This is not a valid Windows file', 'This is not a valid win32 application' or 'Corrupt Zip file'). If this problem happens frequently with downloads, try using a download manager.

For CDs and DVDs, the problem is a little different. Normally, when CD/DVD drives get a CRC message from a disc, they try to read the disc again - hence the grinding sound. After several failed attempts, they give up and display the redundancy check error. The problem can be hardware (loose cables, failing drive), software or damaged media. In most cases checking and cleaning the disc is the easiest way to overcome the problem. If different clean discs produce the same error, it is likely to be a hardware issue (check the discs in another drive). Another common cause of these errors is poorly burnt CDs and DVDs - especially those that had numerous or severe buffer underuns. USB burners suffer from this problem when the burn speed is too high (generally above 4X-8X)

If the discs are damaged, you'll probably need a recovery tool to get back your data. CDCheck 3 will work for CDs and DVDs. First it will check the media, and then you have the option to recover the files. It's free for personal use and has saved many people heartache when it comes to recovering lost digital images and videos from damaged CDs.