Basic Steps to Troubleshoot Desktop Computer

• Restart the computer.
• Check your cables. Keyboard not working? Make sure it's plugged in. Mouse not responding? Make sure it's plugged in.
• Check the electric power. Plug a lamp into the same power outlet that's connected to your computer to make sure the outlet is working.
• Make sure the computer and monitor are plugged in.
• Disconnect all peripheral devices (such as a printer or external Zip disk) and restart the computer.
• Listen for unusual sounds. Is the cooling fan running? Is the hard drive making noises?
• Look inside the computer for wires that aren't plugged in all the way or other faulty connections.
• Start the computer from an external start-up disk, such as your bootdisk or cd recovery