Trouble Shooting 101

HARDWARE

I see a constant barrage of questions on various Discords and Reddit concerning issues with one game or another, or some other piece of software, and the questions all start with blaming the motherboard or the GPU.  (This is about ALL brands not just one)



Now I am not saying that these components can’t be at fault, but there are steps we need to take to diagnose where an issue lies, and it amazes me how “outraged” people get when I suggest ways to do proper troubleshooting. So, I thought a simple article about trouble shooting would help.

The first step is to have an established baseline. I have discussed this in past articles, you need a baseline for system stability. The baseline is established when you build the PC. It is when the BIOS has no tweaks done to it, it is in its default state. This includes XMP, EXPO, Curve Optimization, PBO and even the fan profiles, you want the system at its most basic configuration.  Next you want a CLEAN OS with just the base drivers.  The reason we do this is to eliminate any software or tweak from being the cause of the issue, we are looking for hardware errors.

With this baseline configuration set up, you know that your system’s hardware is stable. This means if you go into BIOS and do a bunch of tweaks and now the system is unstable it is easy to find the issue because you know at the baseline config there was no issue. This means you can find the tweak that created the issue, reverse it and your back to stable.

If you have an instability, then look at when the instability started, and what changes were made in the system around that time. If undoing those changes does not fix the issue, then we go back to baseline. Turn off all tweaks, overclocks and do a base, clean system test with background software off. You will be surprised at how many systems suddenly become stable with just this one change backwards.

That’s all good with a system you built, but what about people who buy a prebuilt system and do not have that clean baseline? In this case, you need to establish your baseline on the day you open the box. The system builder has guaranteed you a stable system with out-of-box configuration. Make sure you do that stability test on day one. If you have an issue with that first test, immediately contact the system builder.

There are some steps we can take to ensure we have easier troubleshooting down the road, after the system has been in use for a while. We want these steps because sometimes taking a very used system back to baseline for testing can be a real mess.

The most important step is using Windows Restore actively. What I mean is if you do a driver update, create a Windows restore point before doing the update. This is important because often people will complain that the system worked just fine until some period of time ago. The first question should always be what changed? With Windows restore points you can take the system back to before the issues started and if you have named the points, perhaps get a clear picture of what created the issue.

I create restore points for more than driver updates. I make sure I have a restore point for any major Windows updates and I also create a restore point every 2 weeks  for no reason.

Another trick is only installing game mods in small groups. My son, for example runs Fallout 4 with around 100 mods installed. If one of those mods has created an issue, tracking it down can be a real mess as he has to through all the mods to find it. However, after I taught him to install a few at a time, he knows which mods will not affect stability. This means if a mod starts to create issues he can troubleshoot and find the problem much faster.

The same goes with background apps. Keep running them to a minimum and if you have an issue try turning all the background apps off, if that fixes the issue then begin turning them back on one at time until you can find the issue.

Finally, concerning BIOS and Driver updates, a lot of people live and die by the theory of always installing the newest updates. I hold the opposite philosophy.  If your computer is running your games well and is stable, then do not mess with updating the BIOS or drivers. These are often released to address specific issues, if you’re not having those issues then the fix is just not needed. Remember the old adage, “if it aren’t broke don’t fix it.” You would be surprised how often ignoring this adage creates more issues than it solves.

By simply knowing your systems baseline and keeping track of changes you make to the system, finding that annoying instability can actually be easier than you might think.


The articles content, opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed in SAPPHIRE NATION are the authors’ own and do not necessarily represent official policy or position of SAPPHIRE Technology.

Edward Crisler
Edward is the definition of an “old school” gamer, playing computer games as far back at 1977. He hosted a tech talk show for 20 years and is now the North America PR Representative for SAPPHIRE as well as SAPPHIRE’s unofficial gaming evangelist. You can follow him on Twitter @EdCrisler.

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